


The Red War

by nevermind_sanity



Series: Sanity's Adventures through Destiny 2 [2]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Alright here's more stuff from tumblr, Gen, huhuuuu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-08-28 18:50:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 19
Words: 104,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16728888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nevermind_sanity/pseuds/nevermind_sanity
Summary: Ghaul kicks Alex in the teeth, he comes back with 5 others to punch him in the face. Basically going through the Red War with everyone.





	1. Before the Storm

“You know… I never knew you in life… or at least your first life.”

Alexander perked up a little listening to his ghost talk. Out here in the wilds alone, he and his ghost sat near their aircraft waiting until dawn to fly. It wasn’t like it was unsafe to fly at night, it was more of he didn’t have to, so why would he? Instead he decided to sleep beneath the stars in the woods. Something about it felt familiar to him, but once again he couldn’t place a finger on it.

“Sorry, just uh, thinking out loud.” Ghost mumbled. Alexander gave a little nod and sat up straight to listen to him, “It’s kind of funny though. I keep thinking about how easy it might’ve been to never meet at all. I’m… I’m really glad I met you Alexander. It took me so long to find you, but it was worth it. Watching you carve your way into the world, not giving up even though it took you so long to be a fully fledged Guardian? And you’re so kind. Don’t tell any of the other Ghosts this, but I think I’ve got the best Guardian.”

Alexander smiled and patted his best friend.

“Alex, when we get back, we should go see if we can run a strike with Gale and Sarah again. Or maybe we can run an op with Cid and Ash, or maybe all of them? It would be a lot of fun, don’t you think?”

He nodded in response, then looked up at the night sky. It was calm and serene here, not a cloud in the sky. They watched as it suddenly lit up with streaks of light that came down across the horizon.

“Hey! A meteor shower! You know if you make a wish during a meteor shower, it’ll come true.”

Alexander beeped something out, “Can you make more than one? Sure I guess? What do you wish for?”

He beeped it out and the Ghost nodded, “Alright, I’ll tell the stars that.” Ghost looked up at the shower, “We wish that we were heroes, and we can one day remember our past!”

As they say however, be careful what you wish for. Neither Guardian nor Ghost had any clue they would be taking back that first wish the next day.

As Alexander closed his eyes for the evening

As Gale walked back to the tower after a long night of taking care of the children at her hospital

As Sarah left the bar to pass out for the evening

As Cid gazed at the night sky far from the city

As Ash lit the candle in her room before bed

And as Red sat on the roof watching the city below

The Red War was about to begin. Dominus Ghaul would now take center stage in the city and begin his conquest of the Traveler.


	2. The Perfect Storm

As the Storm rolled over The Last City, the Vanguard were summoned to the command room.

The people inside the command room were bustling. Most of it was confused reports or things simply not working. Zavala stood in the middle, looking over a screen showing critical points of the wall that were monitoring for major threats to it. Behind him out the windows overlooking the wilds the clouds seemed to make a thick wall of sorts. As Cayde strolled in, Ikora looked at another screen in her hands showing the sensors that were to detect movement.

“Ikora if this is a practical joke,” Cayde started, pausing as Ikora looked at him with one of her looks, “well it pains me to say it but I-I would be really impressed.”

“Impressing you Cayde, is the easiest thing I’ll do all day.” She replied, shaking her head a little.

“Lets get serious people,” Zavala called out.

“Zavala, this is my serious face. Can’t you tell?” Cayde said with a smile, trying his best to lighten the mood.

Zavala’s shoulders sank down a little in a sort of sigh, “Ikora, what do you got?”

“Someone or something has sabotaged the Skyline Defense System.” She replied.

“And Comms have been spotty for the last few hours.” Cayde added, turning towards another monitor and typing something in, “Every sensor beyond the wall’s gone dark.”

“Hm…” Zavala mused, “Maybe it’s just the storm…”

He did in a way want it to be just a storm. Anything else meant they were about to be attacked for sure. They had Guardians, yes, but if they weren’t prepared, how many civilian lives…

“What does the SAT feed tell us?” he asked, suddenly looking up at Ikora. She typed in something or other on the screen before giving it a scowl and shaking her head.

“Nothing.” She said.

“Well that’s good right?” Cayde asked, also hoping the same thing Zavala was.

“No, I mean they’re not there!” She looked up to the rest of the room, “There are no satellites!”

“And that’s… not good…” Cayde felt his heart sink. He found his hand reaching back for the gun he always carried. Everyone knew what this meant, but no one wanted to say it aloud. Zavala turned around to the windows. As he walked close, as a crack of lightning and the boom of thunder rang out, he could’ve sworn he saw something in the grey shadows, slowly turning black.

Another lighting strike lit up their worst fear. Aircraft, hundreds of them, all descending upon the tower like a wave of death. Everyone in the room stared in horror and awe as the armada carved its way through the wall the storm created.

“BATTLE STATIONS! NOW!” Zavala’s voice boomed out

Every alarm started to sound off in the wall, waking up sleeping Guardians and the workers. The fleet opened fire with missiles aimed for the windows.

“EVERYONE WITH ME! NOW!” Zavala roared over the sudden chaos, bringing up a bubble to shield them from the incoming assault. The workers raced to safety. As the walls and ceiling came tumbling down, Ikora raced to Cayde’s side, who was trying to shoot some of the missiles before they could destroy the tower completely. She grabbed him by the waist, blinking out of the way of a falling piece of concrete and twisted metal that would’ve crushed him. They reappeared inside of Zavala’s shield, but both of them could see how he struggled.

They hoped it would hold, but hope didn’t mean much when it didn’t. Zavala’s shield gave way to barrage of missiles. Every person in that room was obliterated, and only the three Vanguard would get the second chance to see the result. All the while the enemy, soon to be known as the Red Legion, sailed over head. Their greatest weapon was already on a course for the Traveler, opening up like a claw, a spider, a parasite to latch onto the dormant vessel.

Time was ticking, and quickly running out.

* * * *

The first ones to react were Sarah and Ash. The alarms rang off in the dorms, waking the two hunters who were just trying to catch some sleep before the next patrol. The sound made Sarah jolt up in bed, rushing the turn on the lights and open the door to see what was going on. A number of confused and panicked Guardians were all racing out into the halls. She could hear the PA system booming overhead the chaos.

TO ALL GUARDIANS! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY! THE CITY IS UNDER ATTACK! PLEASE PROCEED TO DEFENSIVE LINES AND HELP EVACUTE CIVILIANS.

“Holy shit…!” Sarah ran back into her room, slamming the door shut. She threw her nightgown on her bed and quickly changed into her full Hunter attire. In record speed she was out the door, gun in hand, bag on her back, rushing for the exit to the dorms and out to the wall. On the way she spotted Ash who was also rushing out with the crowd and managed to catch up with her.

“Ash!” she called.

The woman looked at her as Sarah made it to her side, “Sarah! What’s going on? Who the fuck is attacking?!”

“I don’t know!”

They ran out into the open. The sky was full of Cabal ships and seemed to have turned red with the spreading fire. The girls noticed a few Guardians stopping and pointing at the tower. What they saw was a fire that reached up to the heavens and a huge hole where the commander center once was.

“I… didn’t do that. Oh my… Traveler what the hell…?” Ash was for once at a loss for words. Sarah stared for a moment as well before remembering that they were under attack.

“COME ON PEOPLE WE NEED TO MOVE!” she suddenly shouted above the crowd, “HEAD TO YOUR SPOTS AND GET PEOPLE OUT! LET’S MOVE!”

They all dispersed and Sarah grabbed Ash’s arm, “We need to see if anyone’s alive in the tower.”

Ash gave a nod and they raced towards the burning wreck.

* * * *

Gale was the second one to react.

“There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” she asked after she gave the little boy his medicine. He grumbled a little because it tasted awful, but other than that made no other complaint.

“Alright, now I’m…”

“Gale!”

The Awoken raised her brows and turned towards the nurse rushing into the room. She was out of breath, frazzled, which of course worried Gale. Something was up, and Gale didn’t like the sound of it.

“Suzie? Suzie what’s wrong?”

“Come to the roof! Quickly! You need to see this!”

The boy seemed frightened. Gale couldn’t blame him when they were calling the Guardian of all people to see something. Gale turned to him with a gentle smile, or at least the best one she could muster.

“It’ll be ok. I’ll be back soon.” She lied.

When she raced to the top of the building an on the roof she let out a gasp, covering her mouth. The Cabal ships flying over head spelled doom for so many civilians. And to see the tower on fire…

“Sound the alarms, now!” she shouted at the other nurse, “I’ll keep this building safe! Start the evacuation now!”

The nurse nodded and ran back down the stairs. Gale took one last look at the burning tower and the incoming Cabal before rushing downstairs into a room to quickly change into her armor. A few minutes later she was back outside, fully geared up, already aiming at some Cabal that were descending onto the roofs and starting to make their way over.

Funny, this felt familiar. There was no time to really think on that though as she took her first shot at them.

* * * *

Red was next, and it went about as well as you’d expect.

Stumbling out of a bar with a lampshade over his head, he went to his favourite Sweeper Bot. When he came outside, he wasn’t really sure why suddenly there was suddenly a lot of running and screaming. He just wandered over to the Sweeper Bot on the wall who just kept on sweeping despite the chaos.

“Hey sweeper bot!” he greeted as he took the shade off his head, “Are we playing a game of tag today or something. Why is everyone running and screaming?”

He then looked up towards the direction of the tower, tilting his head and folding his arms.

“Huh… the tower’s on fire…”

Wait for it…

Wait for it……….

“OH FUCK THE TOWER’S ON FIRE!”

He then went running off in the direction everyone else had been running to, only to trip on his own two feet and fall right off of the wall, landing with a splat on the ground. Don’t worry, his ghost was able to revive him. Though it would be one more concussion to add to the list….

* * * *

“Repeat, Tower Approach! This is city hawk 723! Anyone home?”

As Alexander flew towards the storm over the city, he could feel his insides twisting about. Something was clearly wrong if there was nothing over the channels, or the emergency frequencies

“Alex… remember when I said you fly too fast?” Ghost asked. The EXO glanced over at him, raising the shutter over his right eye a little.

“Forget I said that. FLY FAST.”

He shoved the aircraft into full gear and raced into the clouds. It seemed to form a thick wall around the city, but Alexander was not deterred. They raced through the thunder and lightning hoping against hope that nothing had happened. He wanted to believe the storm just knocked out power or something silly, but…

When they came out the other side, Alexander’s heart sunk. The fires in the city were already reaching the sky. The smoke choked out the light making the sky a deep, awful red as the heavens rained down. The armada of ships over the city already spelled out doom if they didn’t act fast.

“Oh my… Traveler what on earth?!” Ghost asked as Alexander started a descent and looked for a place to land.

“Tower control! This is city hawk 261! Anyone out there?!” they heard a familiar voice shout through the comms.

“Cid! Is that you?!” Ghost asked.

“Who is that? Alex?”

“Yes! We just got back! What’s happening?!”

“Your guess is about as good as mine! These ships, shit shit shit I’ve seen them before. Fuck what the hell are they- CABAL. These are Cabal ships. This is bad!”

Alexander looked up a little and could see Cid’s ship flying overhead. From the sounds of it, this wasn’t exactly something they were going to be able to shake off. How this even happened, neither of them had a clue. Not to mention all of their friends in the city right now, all of the civilians….

“We should try to land and figure out what’s going on at the ground.” Ghost announced.

They heard a sigh, “I guess that’s the best we can do at the moment. I see somewhere where we can slip in.”

They flew their ships over a broken piece of platform. Instead of landing, they put their ships into autopilot and transmatted themselves onto a blown out portion of the wall that would lead them inside. Alexander had never seen Cid in full gear before. He stood tall and proud, adorned in gold and black, an old fashioned hand canon in his hand, and already readying it for anything that was coming through that hole. On his back was the familiar sword that Saladin had gifted him.

“Alright Alex…” Cid looked over at him as he took the safety off, “We have to find the Vanguard.”

“How could this have happened?” Ghost asked as they started to follow him through the burning wreckage, through the hole into the walls.

“Don’t know, and I don’t know why we didn’t get an emergency distress signal…” Cid muttered.

Carefully they began to tread on crumbling concrete. The sound of the wall breaking caught their attention. That was when Alexander would see a Cabal for the first time. The large brutes wearing red and glaring from behind a mask towered over even Cid who had to have been over 6 feet tall. He wouldn’t get much more of a chance to take them in, because Cid shot him in the head and he fell over.

“Ok… so riddle me this. Cabal take over places by blowing them up. Why are they bothering to stick around here and fight us?” Cid asked. Alexander and Ghost looked at each other confused. They didn’t really know of the Cabal in the first place, but if Cid was right, it was weird. Alexander then motioned for his ghost to go back into hiding, just in case.

As they began to run further in, more of them seemed to crawl out of the dark corners. Bullets and energy shots rang out in the halls, the two Guardians quickly pushing their way through the crowd with Cid at the helm.

“This Commander Zavala!” the PA system suddenly called out, “All Civilians report to evac points! Guardians: meet me in the plaza! Our City will not fall!”

“Ok, good to know that he’s alright.” Cid then turned and called out to Alexander, “You heard the man, let’s get moving!”

Alexander gave a sure nod and ran with him deeper into the wreckage. As they came to a door it slowly slid open for them. Out of nowhere it seemed, Cayde-6 went flying into the door, knocking it off the sliders.

“Cayde!” Alexander’s ghost shouted, materializing himself once more.

“Hey you guys! Give me a second!” the hunter called to them. They watched him light his weapon and himself ablaze and shoot three incoming Cabal in the blink of an eye. It faded away as Cayde picked himself up from off the side of the door.

“Are you alright?” Cid asked as he and Alexander walked through the door.

“Yeah I’m fine. Zavala’s doing the hero thing in the plaza. Me?” Cayde pointed at himself. “I’ve got a date with whoever’s behind this. It’ll be a short date!”

“Cayde wait…!” but before Cid could stop him, he had already blinked away. He let out a growl of sorts before a sigh.

“We have to keep moving.” Alexander’s ghost piped up.

“Yeah, we do…” Cid muttered and started to run through another door and up a set of stairs. There they found a crowd of terrified workers in the dimly lit hall with a very familiar hulking figure.

“Ah! Saladin’s Young Wolf! And our Wildcard!” Lord Shaxx called. The two of the rushed to the door Shaxx had been standing in front of, “Cid, Alexander, my armory is open to you. Follow the path through the hangar to the plaza.” The large man reached over to start prying the door open for them with sheer strength alone, “If the Cabal want war, we’ll give them war!”

“Thank you.” Cid bowed a little to him, “Keep these people safe old friend.”

“Hah! You’re only been Risen for 20 years! You can’t say old yet!”

That managed to get a small laugh out of Cid, but that couldn’t waste any more time. They both slipped in, and Cid pointed at an auto rifle on the racks along the wall, “See that? Grab it. It’s one of the best weapons.”

Alexander nodded, putting his sidearm on his belt and instead grabbing the Origin Story. By the time it was loaded and ready, Cid already had the next door open. It was dark in there, pipes had even begun leaking down on them along with the rain. The PA told the civilians over and over to get to safety, and that it wasn’t a drill.

Like they needed to be told that, Alexander thought.

The hangar was in shambles. Twisted steel lay on the ground and the once sturdy platforms were broken and bent. The Cabal were storming the place, all trying to find remaining Guardians and civilians. Their heads were blown off by Cid, and whatever he missed, Alexander finished off. They would step over the bodies and crawl through the flaming wreckage to another set of stairs. Climbing up, the lighting got even more atrocious, and their Ghosts had to come out of their bags and light the way for them.

Finally, they came outside and gazed upon the massive command ship flying over head. The hulking structure was locked and loaded, yet strangely didn’t fire upon them. Cid reached back for his sword, still not understanding why they didn’t just blow them to smithereens, but starting to think about how to get up there and destroy the leadership.

“They’re not just attacking the city!” Alexander’s Ghost suddenly shouted, grabbing their attention, “Look at the Traveler!”

Both EXO found themselves taken aback as they looked to their right. Latching onto the Traveler was some sort of machine. They couldn’t see it very well, but claw seemed to be pulsing as if it was on standby.

“What… what the fuck is that?” Cid shouted, pointing at the parasite, “Are they trying to take the Traveler or something?!”

“Is anyone out there?” another voice rang out through the ghosts. This one was very familiar.

“Gale?” Cid shouted, looking at his ghost that he hadn’t put away yet.

“Cid! Oh thank goodness! Listen, the Cabal are everywhere in the city! I’m at the hospital trying to keep them off the civilians but I don’t know how much longer I can last by myself- OH SON OF A….!”

They could hear gunfire and explosions in the back ground. She was clearly still in the middle of a huge fire fight and was taking a huge risk by pulling out her ghost and calling for help.

“Gale! Gale are you alright?”

“I’m fine, but I won’t be for long! There’s still people trapped inside this place and if I die once the Cabal could bring it down!”

Cid looked up at Alexander. He didn’t need to see Cid’s face to know what was going through his mind. He had to do something. He had to go help Gale despite Zavala’s orders.

Alexander beeped his message, and Ghost translated.

“Go Cid. We’ll get to the plaza and defend this city. You go help Gale.”

He looked at them for a moment before giving a nod, “Gale, try to hold out for a little longer alright? I’m coming.”

“Oh, you’re amazing! Thank you!” her voice was full of relief. Cid put his Ghost away and scrambled to the edge of the wall towards the City. Alexander watched in awe as wings of fire spread from Cid’s back as he soared towards the buildings, and the Traveler.

They couldn’t gawk for long, they had more Cabal on their way.

Alexander charged at them, knocking a majority over and smashing one’s skull. His gun took out the rest in a hurry. As he ran from the bodies into more carnage he could hear more radio chatter.

“Ok, my ghost keeps tagging these guys as Red Legion. Ikora what do you got?” Cayde’s voice sounded through Ghost.

“They’re elite! Ruthless! And rumor is they have never known defeat!” Ikora shouted

“Until today! Today they face Guardians!” Zavala sounded so firm in his statement.

“But Zavala! They’re attacking the Traveler!” Ikora protested.

“The Traveler waits! We protect our people! At any cost!”

Somehow, deep down, Alexander felt like they were making a grave mistake.

* * * *

The problem Gale faced on the roof of this building wasn’t skill, it was sheer numbers. Really it was only through luck and not much else that she hadn’t died once. They seemed to be endless, wave after wave came after her as she alone had been trying to hold the line so the last group could get out. Every time she would get a short break to scavenge for more ammo, more would show up and try to overwhelm her.

Exhausted, but defiant, she stood to face the next wave with an autorifle and a handcanon. Her robes were torn, soaked with her blood and the blood of her enemies. She lost track of how many she killed, how long she had been fighting, how many times she had been shot, how many wounds her magic and her ghost desperately tried to heal over as fast as they came so she could keep fighting. She did know that she couldn’t keep this up forever. As conservative as she tried to be with her Light and energy, it was starting to get to her.

As several Cabal rushed her, she steeled herself, clenching her teeth together and readying herself for another wave of pain. What happened instead however was each Cabal being cut down by a wave of fire. She looked up and nearly cried in relief as she saw Cid sailing down with his sword alight. If they weren’t in the middle of a continuous fire fight, she would’ve ran up right there and then and hugged him.

“Cid! Oh thank goodness!” He ran up to her side as soon as his feet touched the ground, the wings and the fire in the sword disappearing.

“Gale, you alright?” he asked.

She nodded, “Banged up, but alright. Still haven’t died once. Listen, we need to keep these guys away from the building for just a little longer.”

“Gale! Is it safe to move?” the speaker next to the door leading inside the building still worked it seemed.

“It’s as safe as it’s going to be. I have help, get moving!” she shouted back at it. The two of them stood side by side, readying their weapons for the next wave.

“You’ve been fighting them all by yourself this whole time?” Cid asked.

“Yeah… funny it uh… never mind.”

Cid wanted to ask for more info, but the next wave was already descending upon them.

The two of them together fought the Legion with everything they had, but it wouldn’t be enough. After a second wave, a ship started to fly overhead, opening up its sides to reveal its weapons. They would look up only as the missiles flew out of them and were on a course for the building.

“TIME TO GO!” Cid shouted, grabbing Gale’s arm. The two of them ran for the edge of the building so they could escape, but alas, too little too late. Those deadly rockets slammed into the side and the top of the building. The explosion was enough to send the roof of the building to fall on the rest of itself, causing a cascade of floors falling on top of the other. Somewhere in the midst of that were Cid and Gale, dying yet another death as they fell.

* * * *

Squeezing through the collapsed hallways Alexander managed to crawl his way to the plaza. From here he could see the parasite better. The six arms, three on top and three on the bottom, were curved around the outside wall of the Traveler. Something was slowly extending from the tips of it. He felt compelled suddenly to jump off the wall and run for the Traveler, to try and tear the machine off of it, to save it.

He glanced over in time to see a large Cabal right next to him with its arm already raised to strike. With the heated blade in his hand, he would cut Alexander’s head clean off and the Titan had no chance of reacting in time. Yet he would not get the chance to, as a shot rang out and it fell over.

“Oi! Alex! Stop gawking and start helping!”

Turning around and looking up he could see Sarah in the plaza perched on a piece of fallen concrete. Once he ran over and up the last set of stairs he could also see Ash tearing through Cabal along with other Guardians. He raced to Ash’s side, bashing into some of the Cabal with his shield made of Void light to help clear out the crowd.

“Hey Alex!” Ash called, “Nice of you to show up! Ready to help kick these Cabal off our doorstep?”

He gave her an eager nod, but she put her hand on his shoulder before he could run off on her.

“Not to pressure you or anything, but see that door?” she pointed to the back of the plaza to the great white door, “Behind that are the escape pods for all the civilians. Sooooo don’t let anything get within 10 feet of that.”

He nodded, rushing for the middle of the plaza to help other Guardians. The wind howled, the rain battered against them, but none of them were deterred. Even the imposing ship that flew overhead didn’t frighten the army in the least. Through the wreckage of the plaza they fought on, ready to die over and over if it meant protecting the fleeing ships with their people, and to hold onto their home.

“MISSLES! GET IN MY SHEILD!”

Alexander turned and stared in shock. He hadn’t even realized Commander Zavala had been one of the fighters through all the chaos. He wasted no time however in scrambling to Zavala’s position in front of the door they were supposed to be protecting. The two hunters also made it, as did everyone else. When the barrage finally hit them, they all could feel the tremble of force hitting the shield, and the shock when it shattered on the final missile, killing their commander and knocking the rest of the Guardians over. Alexander cringed a little beneath his helmet and summoned his ghost to help revive the commander, while everyone else went charging back into the fray.

“Ah!” Zavala looked up at Alexander one he was revived. Despite the ongoing firefight, Alexander offered him a hand to get back up again, one Zavala happily took. Through their ghosts, they heard Ikora shout something about the Speaker being missing. Alexander had heard of who that was, a figure that spoke for the Traveler (or so he claimed) that was at the helm of the Vanguard.

“We’ll go help find him. You have more than enough people here.” Alexander’s ghost translated for him.

Zavala looked at the firefight, then gave him a nod, “Go. As fast as you can Guardian. Let your light guide the way.”

Alexander then put his ghost away and took off for another collapsing passageway on the right. More Cabal were waiting for him, but he didn’t stop his charge. The sound of bones being shattered by pure strength alone echoed out in the passage as he came to a section of the wall that was completely exposed. More Cabal were there, but through the hole a very familiar ball of the Void obliterated them in a flash. It was not Gale however that came floating down afterwards, but Ikora.

“.. -.- - - - .-. .-!” Ikora!

She turned to see him, even though she didn’t understand what he just said. Her face, she seemed distraught, something that Alexander certainly had never seen before in her.

“The Speaker is gone!” Ikora shouted up at him before turning to the outside and bellowing out the burning heavens, “Red Legion! You’ll take no more from us! AND YOU WON’T FIND ANY MERCY IN ME!”

Alexander rushed out to stop her from flying out there, but he of course wasn’t fast enough. Instead he watched her launch another Novabomb into one of the smaller Cabal ships and sent it crashing to the ground.

Suddenly he keeled over as a pain came through his chest, a vision of rocks and debris flashing before him for a moment. He remembered Cid mentioning something about this once. Light liked to conform to things, attach itself to things it’s close to including people. He had become close with him and Gale, and now felt a fraction of their pain as they both died in the crumbling hospital. His instincts wanted to charge off the wall and find them, but Zavala’s voice managed to call him away from it.

“Alexander! Change of plans! We need to get you onto that Command Ship! Amanda Holliday is waiting for you!”

He summoned forth his ghost, the pain starting to fade now. He wondered if Sarah and Ash had felt that same pang in their hearts. What Cid described when he felt someone in his fire team die seemed to match this after all.

“Alright commander, tell us where and we’ll meet her there.” Ghost translated for him.

He ran as fast as he could, carving a path of destruction behind him. He still felt like the better move would be to go after the parasite, but he wasn’t in charge and he also had no means to get there. If he tried to summon his ship it would most likely be shot down. His best bet was to follow orders and try to take down the command ship, the maybe getting to the parasite from there.

He also was hoping beyond hope that everyone was ok.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This series follows a headcanon that Guardians who are close to each ther can sense what's happening to each other's light.


	3. A Long Fall

In the rubble that once was the hospital, something was stirring. That something was lucky enough to be in a small hole where she could be revived and pull off her next magic trick. She pressed her palms up against the slab of concrete keeping the rest of the building from falling down on her. Void energy tears at reality, so it was time to tear this wreckage from her reality.

From the outside, a soft purple glow would come from a part of the mass of concrete, steel, and shattered glass. That purple glow would then explode, sending out debris everywhere and clearing a path for Gale to climb out. She threw her helmet out of the hole, since the interface was smashed to bits and useless now. It wouldn’t do her any good if she couldn’t see.

“Cid!” she called, looking all around once she was free. The rain was thankfully keeping the dust down, which meant less breathing problems to worry about.

She looked around, feeling something tugging at her chest. She spent enough time with Cid know how to pick him out from any crowd (if his height didn’t give it away first) and it seemed that the same applied for when he was buried under a building. She crawled over the wreckage to find the spot where he landed and started to move the rubble to the best of her ability. Eventually she found his rebuilt hand, clutching onto his ghost for dear life. Poor Charon looked up at her, and was clearly relieved to see her.

“Gale! Oh thank the Traveler! Hurry! Get him out so I can revive him!”

She nodded, not daring to ask why he was in Cid’s hand and not in transmat. It was most likely because he panicked and tried to revive him halfway down during the fall. She worked away as fast as her body would let her to find more of him. Once she had the upper body exposed, she pulled him out the rest of the way. She then untangled the ghost from his fingers so he could revive his guardian. As the ghost floated over his body giving him the healing powers of the light it possessed, he jolted back to life and sat up in a hurry. From the way he began looking around, he seemed a little disoriented.

“Cid! It’s ok!” she placed a hand on his shoulder. He reached up to his own cracked and broken helmet and tore it off his head. Golden eyes looked up at her, then around to see they were both alive on the ground. It was only then he let out a sigh of relief.

“You alright?” he asked.

“Yeah…” she replied, “You?”

“Yeah. Thanks for pulling me out of there.”

She smiled a little, “Any time.”

Now that he was safe, her mind turned to what they were standing on. As she looked around at the mound of debris, there seemed to be nothing left to show what this place once was. She could feel a growing pain in her heart. She spent so much time here with so many people, making those kids smile, laughing with her nurse friends, helping so many people, to see it like this….

“Gale…” she heard Cid’s voice behind her. As she turned to look up at him, he could see her grief. She was covered in dust and blood from head to toe, and those glowing golden eyes seemed sadder than ever. He wasn’t in much better shape himself, but at least he could give her a bit of comfort.

“They all got out. I’m sure of it.”

She looked down for moment and gave a small nod, taking off her gloves and wiping her eyes with her bare hands. The rain had already smeared tracks down her cheeks and her hand only seemed to smudge it more, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t give less of a damn about herself in that very moment if she tried.

“Let’s go.” She sniffled, “Maybe we can salvage more weapons from the Cabal.” Her gun was buried in the ribble and the handanon o her side was surely destroyed. Cid knew quite well without having looking tha his sword was damaged, most likely beyond repair.

“Yeah, and we can look for stragglers while we’re at it.”

The two of them started walking away from the corpse of the building, into the streets that were ablaze. The park they had passed by that one winter day was alight now, the stores collapsed or blown out. He could see down the road the sign for the toy store lying in shambles on the streets. The sight made his insides twist together, thinking about how that old man could’ve very easily be inside when it came down on him.

“Cid…” Gale whispered, turning his attention to her. She clutched both hands together in front of her chest, looking at the destruction all around her. “How… how do we come back from this?”

He wrapped his arms around her, not knowing the answer to that question himself. She turned and held him back, looking up at the sky so thick with smoke. The rain that came down on them chilled them both to the core, especially now that both of their robes were in tatters.

They also knew they had to keep moving, they had to keep fighting. They would find in the ruins another weapon for themselves and end up splitting up to cover more ground. They would be alone when the final hammer came down upon the city. They would be alone when it all came crashing down around them.

* * * *

“YOU FUCKING LITTLE FUCK BUCKETS! I’LL FUCKIN’ TEAR THE GUTS OUT OF THE LOT OF YOU-!”

Ash and Sarah watched with raised brows as the Guardian who was swearing their head off suddenly got said head blown off. They had decided to hide out in a partially collapsed building and take stock of what they had left. Sarah had ran out of ammo for her sniper a while ago, and even though they were salvaging, they were running low on other munitions. The problem is that the swearing Guardian had been a huge distraction.

“Hey, if it wasn’t him, would’ve been me.” Ash said with a shrug. They left the plaza a while ago and had been fighting nonstop on the ground, trying to find commanders that would weaken the army with their deaths. So far the Cabal were so thick you couldn’t pick them out however, which was more than a little irritating.

“How the fuck do you end up with so many soldiers?” Sarah muttered as she counted her mags.

“Maybe they’re like rabbits and have a shit ton of kids, or a lot of sex, or both.”

“Eugh, have you seen them underneath their masks? They’re ugly as fuck.”

“Here’s another question, why do I feel strangely calm even though the city is quite literally falling down on us?” By the time Ash asked that question, the Guardian who was profusely swearing got back up and was at it again.

“Probably because it hasn’t really hit you yet, and we’re basically immortal so even though it’s going to take a long time we can kill all these assholes. Also, you’re a pyromaniac and everything is on fucking fire.”

“Huh… point taken. Ok so I don’t have many bullets left. If I don’t miss I’ll kill about 30 or so Cabal give or take?”

“I’ve got enough for 25 or so Cabal.”

“Well, that’s 55 more dead Cabal then, which means 55 less that are going to kill everyone, and we might get lucky and find more ammo.”

“Point taken.”

The two girls ran out from under cover as the Guardian died again. They would fight on until the very end, using their wits and skill. However their wits and skill could only do so much in this storm when the Cabal would finally make their move.

* * * *

For the last few hours, surviving was the only thing on Stella Henrick’s mind. The announcement system had told them to evacuate sure, but the Cabal made it extremely difficult. She had watched so many people die trying to get away, so many Guardians fall and rise, so buildings fall, so many districts set ablaze that the rain could not quell, all within the span of hours. It didn’t feel like hours, it felt like minutes, seconds, and when she finally found refuge beneath a bridge, it felt like years waiting for the Cabal to move on so she could start to make her way back to the wall to find a way out.

She was exhausted, and truly unsure of why she had survived this long, and not others. She held a hand over her chest, closing her emerald eyes and silently praying. She prayed not for herself, but for everyone caught in the cross fire, and for the Light to be triumphant over this evil. She hadn’t prayed in years, not since her husband passed, but it wouldn’t hurt to try now and hope or the best outcome possible.

Overhead she could hear the patrolling Cabal leave the area and took it as her chance to escape. She ran down the steam, which was difficult to do in a long skirt and heeled boots, and climbed up over the stone wall to get back onto the street. She stuck close to the buildings in case they came back and she needed a new hiding place. Honestly she had no idea her old body could even still do something like this, but she supposed adrenaline had something to do with it…. probably 90% something to do with it.

Turning the corner she froze in her tracks. Two people, a man and a woman, both were lying dead on the ground, and a girl who couldn’t be more than 7 years old was backing away from a Cabal. This was a smaller one, skinnier, not much taller than Stella herself. Stella looked down at the ground, finding a piece of broken pipe at her feet. It was just luck that things turned out the way they did she would figure later, but at the time she picked it up in her hands without hesitation and ran forward at the Psion. It would turn around just in time to see the old woman slam it into the side of its head with all the strength she could muster, knocking it over. Stella dropped the pipe and took the girl’s hand.

“Come on! This way!”

“But mom and dad…!” the girl started to cry as she was led away from them. There wasn’t any time however to see if they were somehow alive. The Psion was already getting back up. Instead the two of them ran for cover beneath the remains of an old shoe store, waiting for the Psion to pass by while it searched. Behind the desk that would never serve as many customers as it did, the two cowered in the darkness.

“Shhhh…” Stella placed a finger over her mouth, “We need to be very quiet ok?”

The small girl nodded, covering her hands over her mouth. Her brown eyes were small and full of tears. Her short black curls were full of debris and soaked from the rain, and it made Stella’s heart ache even more to see the blood on the girl’s clothing.

“Are you hurt?” Stella asked quietly. The girl shook her head, “Good, that’s good. What’s your name?”

“D-Dani…” she managed to squeak out.

“Dani? That’s a nice name. Listen, we need to get moving soon. We’re going to go to the wall and go outside. We’ll come back when it’s safe, but Dani, you must listen to me very carefully. When we start running, do not let go of my hand. If I fall over, you leave me behind, ok?”

She nodded quietly, “Good girl. You can do this.” Stella mustered a smile for her to try and comfort her.

She peered outside, looking for any sign of the Cabal. She then took Dani’s hand and ran out into the streets again, making a beeline for the wall. She hoped, she prayed, that she could at least get this child to safety, if nothing else.

* * * *

“So Alex, never thought I’d be flying you again!”

Amanda Holiday had picked him up only a few moments ago and was already flying through the airborne fight. With all the flips and manuvers, he could safely say he was very glad seat belts were a thing. He wasn’t really sure what they were dodging outside, but he sure hoped it was actually dodging, and not just fancy flying.

“Hold on back there!” she called. Alexander resisted the urge to yell back, ‘I’M TRYING.’

As Amanda soared through the air, shooting all sorts of hostiles in the way, she came beside the parasite. Still pulsing, still on standby, it clung onto the Traveler still.

“Come on big guy… do something…” she mumbled as her eyes narrowed at it. A blast from the right however brought her back to focus as she went racing for the command ship. Gliding beneath it, she waited until she was just below the Cabal pod launcher and brought the ship up. She yelled back at Alexander to undo his seatbelt as she transmatted him down onto the ship.

“Alright, that’s all I can do for you! We’re counting on you big guy! Get those shields down so we can have at her!”

Alexander gave a firm nod and raced towards the inside, out of the rain. Needless to say the Cabal were surprised to see him in there, but he took that to his advantage. A few punches and shots later, he was stepping over some dead bodies to get to a terminal. Once he got close, he summoned forth his Ghost who flew over to the console and started to scan it.

“Okay…. aaaaaand….. got it! A map, and now we know where the shield generators are! Right at the bottom of the ship!”

Alexander put him away and raced through the next door. Around the corner were more unsuspecting Cabal, but this would be the last time he would catch them off guard. As he blasted through the crowd, more came rushing down the hall at him. They were panicked, reckless, and Alexander calmly took them down with ease. It was strange to think that a few months ago he wouldn’t have been able to do this. He wouldn’t have had a hope in hell.

“Cayde! What’s your status?” he heard Zavala bellow through the radio

“Little low on ammo… whole… flaming fist burning out…” Cayde’s voice was starting to fill with static, which meant radio towers were falling and failing. “Anyone heard….Ikora?”

“Not since she…. the Speaker! Form up…. on me…!”

“Ok not to rush you or anything Alex but we better get moving!” Ghost shouted before hiding back in transmat.

He didn’t need to be told twice. He charged down the halls as fast as he could, coming to the deck of the ship at the end. The storm was even worse here. He could see the canons firing off and the many Cabal that were ready for him. He didn’t have time to fight them all. Instead he launched himself over a group with a lift and kept running along the deck to the other side. He bashed through anything in his way, taking shots as he went, but ignoring the pain in favour of getting to the shield generators as fast as his legs could carry him.

Through the door he could see the floors leading down to his goal and many Cabal patrolling it They all circled around, leaving a nice big gap in the middle to jump all the way down. Alexander did jump down with no hesitation, lifting near the bottom to avoid obliterating both legs. He then had to sprint all the way to the next door, which opened up to reveal a very large Cabal on the other side. Without even thinking, Alexander let out a high pitched beep and punched it in the jaw upon being startled by it. It fell over in a daze and the EXO simply kept running. There was no time to fight; he had to shut this thing down.

The room was huge, bigger than Alexander was expecting. A rushing power source turned by two long charged rods circling the bottom was his target. If he took out this, they could make a move on the command ship, bring it down, then go after the parasite.

He could see down at the bottom three gaps in the floor. As the rod moved over one he leaped down into one of these gaps. Glowing bright he could see these were fans cooling the machine. He shot into the fan, and quickly it started to smoke and spark before shutting down. After that, he waited for the rod to pass overhead before making his next move to the second fan. It went down just as easily, and once the third fan was destroyed, the entire mechanism came to a screeching halt.

“Zavala, we did it! The shields are down!” Ghost called out

There was no answer.

“Zavala?”

Alexander climbed out of the gap and started to make a beeline to the nearest door that he hoped would take them outside. Something was wrong, something was horribly wrong. He could feel it in his chest and abdomen, which only drove him to run faster. He could see the fires that had begun from his actions, but he wasn’t even sure if they would count

“Amanda, we’re heading topside!” Ghost called.

No answer, only static.

“Amanda!”

No. No. Traveler no. No this isn’t happening. No no no no no nononono…

Out the door and onto the deck, Alexander looked all around for any sign of Amanda. Ghost came out of transmat joining the search, but they could see none of their own ships in the sky. Had they really all been shot down? Was this really over? Did they really lose this battle?

“How do we come back from this…?” Ghost asked Alexander, not really expecting an answer.

“You don’t.”

That voice made his heart stop for a moment, and not in a good way. He turned around, finding his body stiff as a board. The hulking massive figure clad in white, hiding his mouth behind a black mask, with old scars and bloodshot eyes, was slowly stalking his way over to him, glaring daggers straight into Alexander’s soul. He felt his body wanting to cower before such a presence, but his defiance won out and he instead steeled himself. He pointed his gun at the leader, finger over the trigger, but the Cabal was not phased.

“Welcome to a world, without light.”

He waved his hand to the parasite attached to the Traveler. Alexander dared to turn and found himself taking a step back as it suddenly emitted some sort of energy, caging the orb, their source of light, into a force field.

He felt like something was ripped out of him then. Something he didn’t even know was there until it felt like someone tore a hole in his chest and violently took it out. His Light, his power, he could feel it leaving his body in an instant, leaving his knees wobbly, his head spinning, his chest screaming in pain.

“A-Alex….” He turned to the voice of his ghost that sounded muffled his ears. He could see the little metal parts of his ghost drooping as he struggled to stay afloat, “s-something’s…. wrong….”

Ghost then fell to the ground. Alexander tried to take a step towards him only for his legs to give out underneath him and send him sprawling on the deck. As he could hear the booming steps of the Cabal leader, he reached out to grab Ghost and pull him to the safety of his own body. There was no way he was going to let him be hurt. Let hell or high water come, he wouldn’t let anyone hurt his ghost.

He dared to look up at the man who did this, only to receive a snarl.

“Do not look at me… creature!”

Alexander could feel something breaking when he was suddenly kicked in the jaw, sending him skidding across the deck. He could hear his gun fall away from him, but he clutched his ghost for dear life. He tried to get up, but found it a struggle. His legs didn’t seem to want to work right and his arms felt numb. He could see the interface malfunctioning from the kick to the head and couldn’t even get his helm off.

“You, are, weak! Undisciplined! Cowering behind walls!” his voice boomed as he walked closer to Alexander, who started to instead try to crawl away. To where, he didn’t know, he just had to try and get away. He just needed to hide for a minute, try to recover, find a gun, something…!

“You’re not brave! You’ve merely forgotten the fear of death!” Alexander dared to turn to the man who seemed to be able to send knives into his chest with just one look, “Allow me to acquaint you…”

He felt the Cabal smash his face once more, shattering the helmet he wore and putting a dent in his cheek. The impact made him skid to the end of the deck and let go of his Ghost for one split deadly moment. He looked up and his eyes widened in horror as his ghost slid past him and went flying off the ship and into the wreck below. He tried to reach him, but with no avail. Ghost was long gone.

He closed his eyes, hearing the thundering footsteps behind him, feeling the rain on his head, feeling the pain in his chest, his jaw, and the left side of his head. Chances were, he was going to die here. He could feel it. If that was the case then, he thought as he curled his fingers to grip the floor below, then so be it. He would die facing his enemy, not as a coward.

“Your kind never deserved the power it was given.”

And you do…? Alexander wanted to say but couldn’t. He turned slowly, his light blue eyes glaring right into the other’s.

“I am Ghaul…”

Ghaul huh? I’ll remember that when I come back…

“…and your light…” Ghaul pointed at the Traveler. Alexander was only able to get up on his knees, still staring up defiantly.

“…is mine.”

Go to hell.

He felt Ghaul’s foot on his face, and the force pushing him back off the ship. He didn’t even scream as he fell into the city below. All he did was stare back up at him, swearing up and down as he fell that he would kill Dominus Ghaul.

* * * *

It felt like the air was taken right out of her lungs. It felt like her heart had completely stopped for a moment. She fell to her hands and knees, trying to get a breath in to replace the hole that had been torn out of her. Gale clutched her chest, trying to make some sense of what just happened, what she was feeling. She was lucky to be alone in that moment, and no Cabal could’ve killed her n that moment of weakness.

She didn’t know for how long she knelt there, feeling waves of nausea overcome her from the sheer pain she felt. Eventually she had to lie down on her left side, trying not to spill her guts out everywhere. Her arms wrapped themselves around her chest and stomach, digging into the fabric that was left as the pain seemed to drag on.

The sickness did pass, and the pain did get better, but Gale still was weak at best. She reached up to a piece of concrete to find support to get back on her feet and slowly walk back out onto the street, sticking near the walls for support. She sort of knew what happened, she saw the parasite complete its cage around the Traveler, but a part of her still wasn’t quite processing it. It was most likely because that part kept her feet moving forward even though every inch of her body screamed at her to stop. She nearly stumbled over some rock several times, trying to get closer to the fire she saw in the wall. She didn’t really realize she was doing this, but perhaps her subconscious told her that there was a chance that the fire meant the Red Legion blew a hole through the wall, and if she could make it there, she would be safer.

It was nothing sort of luck that after a long agonizing walk she did make it to the wall without running into trouble. Indeed, there was a large hole blasted through that she could just walk out into the wilds from. Once the concrete turned to dirt and grass she made a beeline for the bushes nearby. It was a bad idea to stay in the open, even though she was outside the city. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that the Legion was surely hunting survivors down. She got down on her hands and knees, crawling her way under the branches to relative safety.

“Winter…” she whispered, trying to summon him to no avail. She felt the pain in her chest flare up again when Winter didn’t come out of transmat. She tried again, and again, and again, and each time she felt tears well up in her eyes. She covered her mouth with her hand to muffle the quiet sobbing that would give her away. She already had a good idea on what was happening, and it was possible her ghost was dead. It was possible that her friends could also be dead. Thinking about them struggling without their light and dying just made it harder to hold back terrified tears. She wasn’t scared to die for the last time, she was scared her friends were dead, and she wasn’t there to try and save them.

“No… Please Traveler no….” she mumbled, quietly crying all alone with no one to hear her.

* * * *

When he thought about it now, the moon hadn’t been scary. Defeating the Prince of the Hive? That wasn’t scary. Going to the Dreadnaught and killing the equivalent of a God? No, that wasn’t scary either. Going up against a machine that could replicate matter from nothing? That wasn’t scary.

But this? Losing his light? That was right up there with the Thorn.

When he first felt that soul sucking feeling, he was on top of a mound of rubble, looking for more stragglers other than the ones he tried to shield from the Cabal and pointed the way to. He fell to his hands and knees, trying to make sense of what was happening. Through the pain he tried to crawl forward, only to slip down the side of the makeshift hill. Though he tried to stop the descent and his own mouth opening and screaming, between the weakness, the pain, and the fear, he failed to do both.

Crashing at the bottom, he couldn’t get himself back up. He could feel the pain on his arms and stomach now as well as under his chin, just to add onto the hell he already felt. He could remember times where he had felt worse, sure, but this was different. He couldn’t heal this. He didn’t dare try to summon Charon now to try and heal this. He was on his own, and he already was in a horrid position.

Just to make things even worse for him he could hear Cabal marching to where he was. He wanted get up, to run, to try and get away from the monsters that would surely hunt him down and kill him. The most he could muster however was rolling on his side and trying to pick himself up with little luck. As they drew closer he could feel his heart (or whatever it was) beating out of his chest. He closed his eyes, and hoped the Cabal would just think he was dead and leave him alone. After the fall from the hospital and this fall, he probably fit the part of a corpse well, especially since he was an EXO who didn’t need to breathe.

He could hear them, closer and closer. The hardest part was keeping his body relaxed even though he felt absolutely terrified. He could hear them breathing overhead as they got close. He could feel them there, could feel their thundering footsteps. For one horrible moment they stopped right above him. He didn’t dare to open his eyes to see what they were doing. Were they scanning to see if he was alive? Would they find out he was and kill him?

The moment seemed to drag on for eternity, before the Cabal finally left him lying there. When he couldn’t hear their footsteps anymore, he finally opened his eyes and tried to get up again. He grabbed onto a piece of broken steel to pull himself up and standing once more. He found himself only able to limp at most towards the wall, hoping he could find an exit there and get out to relative safety.

By the time he finally got there and found a hole, he was barely walking. It took every last bit of his will to keep himself from collapsing on the ground. He hadn’t even begun to really take in what horrid consequences there would be and was. His focus was on trying to make it out alive. Once he was rested, then it would hit him like a ton of bricks that it was very likely all of his friends had been killed, permanently. For now though, survival took over any other thought.

He wasn’t paying much attention to anything around him at this point. He took one step forward and felt his leg give way under the weight of his own body. Before he could hit the ground though, he felt something grab his arm and pull him back against their body. It didn’t feel like a bg Cabal, but it could’ve been one of those Psions. Either way, he had no strength to fight them off.

This is it, he thought, I’m going to fucking die.

“Hey, easy buddy. You must not be feeling too good either.”

Cid knew that voice. He never thought he would ever be happy to hear that voice in his life, but in that very moment he was so glad it was just Red who pulled him up instead of the Cabal.

“Hah… what was the first hint?” Cid asked quietly.

“Oh you know, the weak legs, the tattered robes…” Red started

“I was being sarcastic, I know I look like shit.”

“Wait, you’re smart. Why is it that my ghost won’t talk to me anymore… and I can’t throw grenades… or do magic things?”

“Look Red, just… I’ll explain later. We have to go through that hole and get somewhere safe.”

“But I want to fight these bad guys! They’re doing awful things to people. They hurt you too, didn’t they!”

“Red, we go fight those guys, we’re going to fucking die. Permanently. We go through that hole, we live to fight them another day.”

“But Cid, we die all the time.”

“Red I swear to the Traveler…!”

He tried to pry himself off of Red, only to stumble and fall face first into the ground. He felt the Titan lift him back up by grabbing him under his arms, this slinging one of them around Red’s neck.

“Ok, point taken. I’ll take you outside where it’s safe.”

Cid would devise a way to convince the Titan not to go rushing back into the ruin later. For now, he was just happy for the help getting out of the city into the wilds. At least there they had a better chance of hiding out and living.

* * * *

“Fuck! Fuck! This isn’t….! Fuck! This is not happening! I’m fucking dreaming right? Please tell me I’m dreaming!”

The two hunters had decided they would hide out in a dimly lit basement they found until the horrid feelings passed them. They watched the cage become complete, and felt the same feeling of the air being sucked out of their lungs. Once it passed they found their way here and found the Ghosts inside the bag being none respondent. Sarah had been sitting in a corner for a while now, trying to nudge her Ghost awake and back to life. Ash sat at the other side of the room, huddled up, cursing up and down as she failed to wake up Chie as well.

“It’s… not a dream…” Sarah finally said, “I’m pretty sure this is real.”

“What if it’s not? What if it’s some fucking trick like that spirit we ran into?”

“Ash it’s not going to do us any good thinking this is a dream! We don’t have our Light, that much is obvious, and our Ghosts are either dead or unconscious or something.”

Ash bit her lower lip for a moment, “That… thing on the Traveler. What if we take it out? We steal a ship going there and we…”

“Ash! That’s a suicide mission!”

“Listen! We get rid of that thing, we get our light back! Problem solved!”

“Not if you die! There’s still thousands of Cabal, and thousands of weapons that could just blow our heads off, and that’s it! Game over! There’s no second chances!”

“So we’ll be careful! We’re Hunters; we know how to do things like this! All we have to do is get there, find the schematics, shut down the power, and the boom, light is back, Ghosts are fine, everything is normal!”

“Ash it’s not that easy!”

“Never said it was easy! I’m not going down without a damn fight!” Ash finally stood up, nearly teetering over from the motion, “These damn Cabal think they can fucking come in here and take our Light, destroy our city and kill everyone! Well they’re wrong! I’m going to get it back and destroy them for what they did!”

“You go anywhere near a ship and you will die!” Sarah stood up now, more carefully than Ash to avoid falling over again. She also started to cross the room as the argument went on.

“Since when did you get so scared to fight and die? Don’t you want the light back?”

“I’m not scared to die and yes of course I want the light back but…!”

“Then listen to me! We can do this…!”

Suddenly Sarah’s hands found Ash’s shoulder and gave her a good shake, looking her dead in the eye, “I’M NOT GOING TO LET YOU DIE! WE GET SHOT ONCE, WE DIE. NO MATTER HOW CAREFUL WE ARE, WE’RE GOING TO BE EXECUTED IF WE GO ANYWHERE NEAR THAT BASE RIGHT NOW! WE’RE NOT STRONG RIGHT NOW! I DON’T WANT YOU TO DIE ASH!”

There was silence between them for a moment, as Sarah finally let Ash go. The two of them felt their gaze turning to the floor, knowing that Sarah was right. They couldn’t fight. Not like this.

“So what do we do?” Ash asked

“We leave the city. We get to the wilds and start finding other soldiers who also fled, we start a resistance, or something, I don’t know. All I know is, we can’t stay here.”

Ash clenched her hands into fists for a moment before letting out a sigh, “This fucking sucks.”

“I know.”

They would stay the night there, and make a run for it in the morning to the wall. By that time, most of the city was a smouldering ruin. During the night however, the Traveler, once thought dormant, made a call for the surviving Guardians. A plea, a vision to guide them to a jagged edge of a shard long since shed, was given to each Guardian that night. How many Guardians however, would make the march to that place, was still up for debate.

It would be a long walk, for everyone.


	4. The First 2 Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yesterday was Better

Do you hear me Alexander?  
It’s me, Terra   
I know you struggle to remember me  
I know you’re scared as well

But listen  
Do you see it?

This is the Traveler calling for help.  
Everyone is getting this dream  
But only you will get my voice  
The voice of your wife

Listen carefully  
Follow the Falcon to the Shard  
Do not be afraid of the darkness   
There is still light there, light that you can reclaim

I’ll be waiting Alexander  
I’ll guide you there  
I’ll always be here  
I’ll be here until you don’t need me anymore.

* * * *

Stella didn’t really know what miracle allowed her and the rest of this group to survive and make it out to the Wilds, but she was thankful for it. 1 day after the attack, Stella, Dani, and seven others were wandering away from the wall, unsure of where to go. They didn’t know the outside like hunters or people who snuck outside the walls. They didn’t know of all of the dangers and how to survive. All they knew was that there was no going back to the city now.

“Miss…” Stella looked down as the child whose hand she held finally spoke up, “…my… mom and dad aren’t coming back… are they…?”

Stella let out a long breath through her nose. She let go of her hand and knelt down to look the girl in the eye when she spoke to her next.

“…no, they’re not.”

“…why am I not crying?” she asked, “I don’t… feel anything.”

“It’s most likely because you’re still in shock Dani. Feeling nothing is also a natural reaction. The grief will come.”

She gave a tiny nod, “Miss…”

“Stella. You can call me Stella.”

“Stella… thank you for saving me. Are you a Guardian?”

She shook her head, “No, I’m just an old woman.”

“Are you sure?”

Stella smiled a little, “Positive. You don’t have to be a Guardian to help someone.”

Dani gave a small nod. She seemed to hesitate for a moment before reaching for Stella’s hand again. The old woman gently took it and stood up. The old lady that saved her was the only person Dani felt like she could trust here. The others seemed scared, but Stella was calm and collected, keeping her head and comforting others.

Truthfully Stella was just as frightened, but it would do her no good to panic. It would make things worse.

A howl rang out through the hills. The people started to look at each other and all around. Stella got in front of the child to protect her from wherever that sound was coming from. From the direction of the wall they had left behind, three hound like creatures came running for them. The red scales gleamed in the light, their claws ripping up the ground, their teeth sharp and ready to tear out the hearts of the Civilians.

Stella was about to tell everyone to run, however gun shots rang out before she could. Each dog stopped and looked to the sound. Crawling out of the thicket where she had been sleeping before, a woman shot one dead before they could come running at her. When the other two finally had the mind to try and rip her apart, she shot them both before they could get to her.

Stella could already hear the whispers behind her. The woman was Awoken and wearing the tatters of a Warlock uniform, which meant she was almost certainly a Guardian. Stella however noted that there was a weakness in the way she held her gun, the way she now walked up the hill to meet them. Her robes were falling apart, her hair was a complete disaster filled with debris from buildings and nature, and her face was smudged with black. They thought her as a Guardian to save them, but Stella could see past those golden eyes and see that something was very wrong with her.

“Stay here.” She told Dani as she walked down the hill to meet the woman. The girl did as told. She too noticed something was off about the woman, even though she couldn’t put a finger on it. Besides, she looked almost scary.

“You have my thanks young lady. My name is Stella, I’m glad to find someone else had lived the attack on the city.” Stella offered a hand to the woman once she got close enough.

“Don’t worry about it. You can call me Gale.” She replied and gently took her hand, “Are you leading this people?”

“No one is leading them. No one knows where to go or how to survive. We’ve already ate what little food we have.”

Gale’s eyes cast down a little, “I see. Is anyone injured?”

“Minor cuts and bruises, but other than that, no.”

A sigh, “That’s good…”

“Gale,” Stella looked the woman in the eye, “That thing on the Traveler… the way you seem a little off… you are a Guardian, right? If so… tell me what’s happened.”

Gale’s lips pressed into a thin line, trying to decide on the best answer. She decided to go with the truth, “That thing…. the parasite, is suffocating and trapping the Light. It took our Light from us Guardians… we are powerless.” She quietly told her.

Stella felt a pit at the bottom of her stomach. If that was the case, this war was already over, wasn’t it? No… no there had to be a way. They were all still alive, weren’t they? This woman had a gun, could keep the animals off of them, and help them survive. So long as they were alive, there was still a chance.

Stella looked back at her, “I see. If that’s the case we must stick together. Are you going somewhere?”

“I… yes.” She hoped Stella wouldn’t ask her to explain where she was going. All she had was a gut feeling to go somewhere, and she was just following it because she didn’t really have anything else going for her. She couldn’t sense where her friends were, she didn’t even know if they were alive, and her Ghost still didn’t seem to react to anything she did.

“Then please, let us come with you. Your knowledge and skill can help these people. We’ll keep them in the dark about the light being gone for now, they’re scared enough as it is.”

She looked back at the crowd of frightened people. Her eyes immediately fell on Dani, and she didn’t need any more convincing. She would’ve helped anyways if there hadn’t been a child, but it was certainly a factor in the speed of which she answered.

“Follow me then.”

* * * *

“Can we go back into the city now?”

“No.”

“Can we go back now?”

“No.”

“Can we use our powers now?”

“OH MY TRAVELER, NO! WILL YOU SHUT UP RED?”

The same day after the attack, Cid and Red had already made tracks to start crossing the mountain range. Unfortunately it seemed that Red was one of those people who would, and will, ask ‘are we there yet?’ This had been going on for about an hour now, and it seemed that Cid finally snapped.

“Hey man, why are you so mad?”

“Oh I don’t know, it might be because I lost my light, it’s very likely my friends are all dead, and I’m stuck with this idiot WHO WON’T SHUT UP AND LET ME THINK FOR FIVE MINUTES!”

“Oh… that would be bad huh. But who’s the idiot?”

Instead of wasting his breath yelling more, Cid just inhaled and let out a long breath through his nose. His right hand was twitching from the irritation he felt on top of everything else, but he ignored it and went back to leading the way. At least Red was finally quiet so he could think.

Really, things were not looking good for them. They had no light, limited ammo, and they only had some weird dream and a gut feeling to go by. It was also a struggle to keep his mind off of thinking about what could’ve happened to everyone. He certainly was regretting the decision to split off with Gale now. At least if he didn’t do that he would know that she was safe or not. As for all his friends from the last 20 years, he didn’t have a clue about their fate, nor the fate of the Vanguard, or…

“Hey, is that a ship?” Red suddenly asked, pointing towards the top of another hill. Cid looked up to see the wreckage. It wasn’t usable, he could tell that from a distance, but there could still be something useful there.

“Well… it wouldn’t hurt looking.”

They walked closer up the hill to the wreck. Upon closer inspection, it seemed like a wing had been shot off and the pilot had tried to land. Considering they were this far away from the city and the main firefight, it must’ve been a stray bullet or something similar. What a horrid bout of bad luck, Cid thought.

Cid carefully climbed on top and tried to pull at the emergency latch on the outside. This was meant for when the automatic one didn’t work and the manual inside was broken. The problem was it was cold, and Cid wasn’t strong enough to pull the stiff metal.

“Hey Red! Can you give me a hand?”

Always happy to help, Red climbed up and grabbed the handle. It took him a moment, but he did manage to pull it and the cockpit opened right up. Now that the foggy glass wasn’t in the way, the two could see that the pilot was inside still. Cid reached over to his neck to check for a pulse before shaking his head.

“He’s dead.” He mumbled as he started to take the seatbelts off the man. Red then pulled him out and carefully carried the body down to the ground.

“We should bury him.” Red called back up to Cid.

“Red, the ground is rock solid! Literally!”

“He deserves one!”

“Red, we don’t have time for…!”

Cid stopped mid sentence when he saw the look on Red’s face. It was easy to forget death when you were a Guardian. It was easy to forget it something permanent for most people. It seemed like this was Red’s reminder. People die. They don’t come back. He probably wouldn’t grasp the fact that he could also die and never come back, but at least he remembered that was the case for others.

“Alright. The ground’s too hard, so find some rocks or something. At least then we can also find it again.” Cid told him. Red gave a nod, laying the pilot on the ground and looking for loose fragments on the mountainside. Cid would’ve gone to help him, but first he had to salvage what he could from the aircraft.

First on the list was reaching down beneath the seat and undoing the latch under there. Once that was done he was able to take the seat out and throw it off the other side. Beneath it was what he was hoping for. Survival gear, dried food packs, everything Red would need to survive out here. He smiled as he pulled it out and tossed it onto the broken wing where they could easily find it.

Now, the tricky part. If he could get the radio working in the plane, he could send out a signal to anyone still out there, or find a signal. When he reached over to turn the key, nothing turned on. He sighed. Damn battery’s dead. He didn’t want to stick around here too long either, since the Red Legion was certainly hunting them down, which meant he didn’t have time right now to figure out a jury-rig to power it up.

Instead he crawled into the cockpit and opened up the glove compartment. Inside were tools, hopefully the right ones so he could take the radio out of the dashboard. He was hoping it wouldn’t be a lengthy surgery process, but the manufacture’s dream is a mechanic’s worst nightmare. This was going to take him a while.

At least the work was a nice distraction from everything horrible that was happening.

While Cid was busy trying to take the radio out, Red was already finishing up burying the pilot under the many coarse fragments in the area. He had made a nice pile over the body, and it would be easy to spot. He looked up and could see Cid still fiddling with the radio. He tilted his head a little before wandering over to all of the supplies that had been tossed to the wing. Not understanding what it really was for, he started to rummage through it a little to find something to bang out whatever Cid was trying to get his hands on. 

He heard a small sound and glancedd over his shoulder. Out of transmat, his Ghost tumbled and nearly fell onto the wing before catching herself. Red certainly didn’t expect to see he there.

“Ghost?” he asked, lifting her up with his hands, “Is that you?”

“Yes.” Her voice was full of static when she talked, but still recognizable, “Who else could it be you silly fool?”

Red felt a huge grin on his face and started to shout up to Cid, “HEY! TAKE OUT YOUR GHOST! MINE’S TALKING AGAIN!”

“What?!” Cid got out of the plane and onto the ground again. He then heard the same sound and looked to his shoulder to see Charon drifting wearily out of transmat. He immediately turned and raised his hands up to catch the poor thing if it fell. Thankfully he didn’t

“Cid?” Charon asked when his little eye looked up at his Guardian. His voice was also garbled in static, but still there. Cid didn’t even say anything. He just held his Ghost in both hands and pulled him close, just like he did when he first woke up in the hospital bed. He was just relieved that his ghost wasn’t dead, that at least he survived.

“See Red, now why can’t you hug me like that?” Red’s ghost asked.

“Well you never ask for hugs.” Red replied.

“Ugh, I see you haven’t changed. How long have we been out?”

“About 24 hours give or take.” Cid replied, letting his ghost go finally.

“And we’re in a lot of trouble… aren’t we?” Charon asked.

“Yeah… we are. We’ve got no light, limited ammo… I don’t know where anyone else is either. But…” Cid stood up, “On the bright side, this pilot gave us a means to live a little longer and cross the mountain range. If we can get across it’s all forest. If we’re lucky, we’ll find another aircraft and use that to cover more ground.”

“Where are we even going?” Red’s ghost asked.

“I don’t really know honestly. I’m going on a gut feeling and a weird dream… but that’s all we got.”

“Well, that’s all my plans are! I can go with that!” Red told him with a smile as he stood up. Cid shook his head, but he was smiling. It might not be so bad traveling with him after all. At least he had a good heart and wanted to help, even if he was an idiot.

“Better than nothing, right?” Cid asked.

Red nodded, “And at least we’re not alone! I’ll bet Alex will walk out of the city telling us how he managed to take out the bad guys. That nice lady you’re always talking to will probably show up too! Just wait and see!”

If nothing else, Cid could admire his optimism. He really did hope they were alive, he hoped everyone he knew was alive despite the staggering odds. With that notion however, he felt like an apology for his earlier behaviour was in order.

“Hey uh… sorry for yelling earlier… by the way.”

“Oh no problem! I’ll bet that invisible idiot had it coming!”

“Right…” Cid’s eyes glanced to the side for a moment before looking back at him, “We should get moving. Ghost, are you picking up any signals?”

“I… I am actually, and it’s not good.” Charon turned to the direction of the city, “They’re rendezvous coordinates. They’re evacuating the planet… which means…”

“We’re on our own…” Cid mumbled.

“But that also means that a lot of people got out, right? Like our friends?” Red asked.

“I hope so Red… I really do…”

* * * *

Around a campfire further up the mountain, Gale sat with the rest of the group she picked up. It had been a happy reunion with her ghost, but the morale was low when they all realized that the Guardian didn’t have any of her powers, and her ghost was in terrible shape. Sitting across from Gale was Stella and Dani. Dani had curled up to the old woman’s side, finding a little comfort in her presence. When the people started to panic about the Guardians losing the light, she had calmed them down. Dani didn’t know how, but she was glad she did.

“Stella… do you miss anyone?” she asked in the midst of the silence.

“I miss many people. Why do you ask?”

“Are you missing anyone in the City? When the monsters attacked?”

“Yes, I am. I am a teacher actually… and I hope all my students got out.”

“Do you have a mommy and daddy? A husband?”

Stella gave a sad smile, “Used to. Mother and father both died a while ago, and my husband died far too young. Never did find a man after that. I’m too old now.”

“Mommy said that people are never too old for anything.”

Another sad smile, “Funny… my students tell me that too.”

There was more silence. Gale stared up at the sky, full of stars. A part of her wondered how this world was going on just like nothing happened. How could the skies be clear, how could the birds sing, how could life go on the way it normally does? She knew she couldn’t understand it, she was too tired, too stricken with worry for her friends to sleep, and just wanted it all to go away. What she would give to have this all be a nightmare and she’d just wake up in bed like nothing happened.

Stella must’ve saw it in her, saw it in everyone, because she started to sing.

Want to spread my wings and fly  
On wing to the sky  
How I dream to be  
So free…

At first the voice was so quiet, only Dani and Gale’s ghost seemed to notice it. Winter gently nudged Gale’s cheek and motioned to the old woman.

“You can sing?” Dani asked with wide eyes.

“Oh, just a bit.” Stella replied with a bashful smile.

“You… you sounded like an angel.” Winter complimented. The others started to stir and look to Stella, all wondering what they were talking about.

“Oh, you’re just saying that…”

“No, I’m not. It was lovely. Please… can you sing for us?”

Stella stopped smiling and started looking around at the people. All of them looked at her intently, wanting to hear something other than bad news and their fears. She looked down at Dani who stared right back at her, hopeful for a song. Her gaze then fell on Gale, who looked so worn down and weary, and who was also staring at her intently.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and sang with all the power she had for the first time in years.

No more sadness, no more pain  
No more anger, no more hate  
How I dream to have closed wings  
And fly to the sky…

Gale felt chills down her spine as the woman sang with all her heart. If she hadn’t been looking at her, she would’ve never guessed she was 53 year old school teacher. Everyone felt it in their hearts, the song about wanting to fly away from it all and find some peace. To Dani, it reminded her of her mother when she sang her to sleep, and it brought the little girl to tears. Her small arms wrapped around Stella’s waist and held her tight. Stella placed a hand over the girl’s shoulder as she transitioned the song to one Dani might be more familiar with.

Somewhere over the rainbow  
Way up high  
There’s a land that I heard of  
Once in a lullaby…

“Somewhere…. over the rainbow….” Gale quietly sang along for a moment before silencing herself. If she’d try to sing any more, she would surely begin to cry. She didn’t need to cry in front of everyone here, even though a good majority of people were already in tears.

Drifting into the night was Stella’s voice, heard in echoes around the area. It was pure luck that nothing heard her and came after her. Instead, it served as their one moment of peace in this crazy world.

* * * *

Day 2, Alexander finally woke up.

In the ruins of the city the Cabal were still on the patrol for survivors. Buildings still burned, the air was still thick with smoke, and there didn’t seem to be a single sign of life. In the pile of rubble and trash, a body that the Cabal assumed dead suddenly twitched. Echoes of the woman who called herself Terra, still rang in his ears as his hand began to reach out to grab onto something to lift him up. Once he began to move it however, he felt a sudden shock of pain down his arm. Up until then he had only felt a dull ache, but now that he was trying to move, it seemed that every sensor in body that wasn’t broken was screaming bloody murder.

He winced as he tried to push himself out of the pile he fell in. He could literally hear his body creaking with the motion in unison with the screeching of his sensors. He felt something give way under his feet and fell forwards, sliding down the small pile and onto the cement. He honestly didn’t have a clue as to how he was alive from a fall like that, but a part of him wasn’t sure if he wanted to be alive in that moment, with the scrapes just adding onto the feeling of being hit by a truck.

Slowly, carefully, he managed to lift himself up back onto two feet. He was in far too much pain to stand up straight, and his arms automatically wrapped around himself. His armour was in pieces, his face still bashed and battered, and he didn’t even want to think about how many broken pieces were currently free floating in his body. All he could think about was putting one foot in front of the other. Down the broken wall into the stream, he would nearly fall over, but just keep his feet beneath him. He could hear his ears begin to ring and his head began to spin. He walked underneath the bridge, slowly, carefully, just managing to dodge a spot light from an aircraft above. He leaned against the wall for some form of extra support as he waited for it to pass. That was a mistake in a way, since he found it even harder to keep walking once he stopped.

One foot in front of the other, that’s right.

Traveler… this really hurts…

“G….dian….? Al…der…?”

Through the ringing he could hear a familiar voice. He could feel a haze enter his head as he tried to get closer to that voice. He hoped, Traveler did he ever hope, that it was his ghost. After such a fall he didn’t think he’d find Ghost again. If it was his ghost then perhaps there was still a chance of fixing this…

Around the bend he finally saw him. Ghost was floated above the water, looking all over for his lost Guardian. Alexander tried to call out, but nothing seemed to leave his throat. Instead he just kept walking, closer and closer despite the pain and the haze.

Finally his legs gave out from beneath him, and he fell over into the water. His ghost must’ve heard him, because suddenly his voice was close and he could start to feel the pain wash away.

“Alex! Oh thank the Traveler! I…. I thought I lost you!”

As Ghost gave him what healing magic he had left, Alexander felt some strength return to him. He wasn’t in pain anymore, but his body felt so heavy now. Without the Light it seemed to weigh down on his very soul. He was still able to stand up, quickly taking his Ghost in his hands and running towards another arc over the river to get out of the open. He could tell he was slower now, more of his body just didn’t seem to want to function as it normally would. Was this what it was like in his last life? How did he put up with this?

Once they were safe from the spot lights, Alex let go of his ghost, but still kept his hands at the ready to catch him. He seemed so fragile, shivering and twitching, his shell damaged by the fall. Alexander suddenly felt an odd sensation in his eyes. He couldn’t name it, he’d forgotten what crying was, but he did reach up with on hand to try and brush away a tear that wasn’t really there.

“Alex…” Ghost started to say, his shell drooping more, “I’m going to be perfectly honest with you… I’m scared. The Light is gone. They took everything… the Light, the Traveler, the City… I’ve watched them kill so many lightless guardians. I was scared I’d see you among them or dead on the ground or…”

Alexander gave him a little nudge with his thumb, trying to comfort him. He didn’t want to think about what would’ve happened if he had been found first by the Cabal.

“Alex… we have to get out of here…”

He gave a small nod and started, walking, keeping his ghost close by. All he had left was a damaged sidearm from the fall, as his other wepon was kicked away. His armour would maybe take a bullet before completely falling apart, and he had no light. There was no way he would be able to fight off the Cabal if they found him.

Climbing and weaving his way down the stream he did get lucky enough to come upon a hole in the wall. Checking to see if anything could see him go through first, he slipped through to the wilds outside and started to make a run for it. He didn’t know if anyone else made it out, especially now since everyone had a head start on him, but he couldn’t really afford to search.

He could hear it in the distance, the sound of the bellowing hounds, searching for their prey. They were still looking and starting to spread into the wilds.


	5. Suraya Hawthorne

“You got a signal up there?”

“No.”

“Fucking mountains…”

Sarah and Ash had been on the move for a while now. Over the last three days they worked their way over to the mountainside and now were picking the lowest path to get to the other side. If they made it there, then they were home free as far as they were concerned. It wouldn’t be as easy for the hounds to find them in the thick woods and they could make a run for it towards the Shard, even though it would still be a long walk.

While they were resting before the hardest part of the hike, they both decided to try to reach for a signal from their ghosts. Climbing to a high spot near their encampment, Chie tried to pick up something other than the fading rendezvous coordinates with little luck. Her hand was under her ghost to help her in case she fell. Day 3, and there wasn’t much improvement in their condition. It was still a heartfelt reunion, but the girls both knew without the light, their days were numbered.

“You’d think Mountains would help in a way. They’d get us to higher ground where we could reach more.” Ash called down.

“Yes, and no. I think the bigger problem though is we’re either too far away from any survivors, or they don’t have a radio, or they’re already on the other side of this damned mountain.” Sarah sighed.

“You really think there’s other people on the other side already?”

“If they have an airship, or a faster way across, or they weren’t as careful as we were and didn’t prepare before this, then yeah there should be.”

Sarah stood up and stretched out a bit. They clearly weren’t getting anywhere, and they still had a mountainside to cross. So far the skies had been clear, but she wanted to get across before that changed. Ash had been keeping her eyes almost glued to it, looking for any signs of a blizzard. Sarah certainly couldn’t blame her; a blizzard could spell the end of them. Not to mention there was no way she was going to put Ash through that again.

She was certainly coming to regret their choices of attire. What they wore wasn’t going to protect them from those hounds. It was meant for speed, but at the moment Sarah could certainly appreciate the armored shoulders of Titan wear. She felt awfully vulnerable like this.

“We better get moving.” She sighed, picking up her bag. Ash looked up to the sky one more time, making sure there really was no sign of a storm before climbing down from her perch.

* * * *

As Sarah predicted, there were already people further along. Cid and Red got a head start from those supplies they found in the wrecked aircraft. They tried to take the lowest path possible, but that also meant they didn’t always take the safest. Along the steep edge of a cliff they carefully traversed the narrow ledge full of snow. Cid led the way, not wanting Red to rush in and fall off. There was no coming back after all if he did that.

The entire time as he carefully tread on the narrow rock he told himself to not look down. He didn’t want to see the dizzying height and the snow falling when his foot brushed it away. He could hear the wind howl above them and sometimes would blow loose snow down and showed them a little with it. All the more reason he was thankful for the thermal protection beneath his ruined robes.

Carefully circling their way around the face, the ledge widened as it connected back with the rest of the mountain. Hiking upwards over the hill through the snow they both stopped dead in their tracks seeing what was below them. Cid didn’t think the hounds managed to get up here this fast, but there they were, sleeping in the snow stained red with blood. He could see body parts and equipment strewn about that the hounds couldn’t devour. How many were killed here, he didn’t really know nor wanted to find out.

“Oi, quiet. We don’t want to wake them up.” Cid crouched down a little as he turned to Red, who was oddly calm. He expected Red to be freaking out at the mess, but instead he seemed a bit spaced out, like he wasn’t really processing it. He did seem to have enough sense however to follow Cid as they crept around the dogs, silently, trying not to disturb them. They could clearly see where they came from, and started to follow the carved path downwards towards the other side.

As they walked, Cid started to think on what most likely happened. Somehow, someone got over mountain faster than they did. On the other side, they found the hounds (which didn’t make him feel any better) and ran up here to get away from them. The question was, how did they beat them across the mountain? Was it luck, or….

Walking towards a ledge, they found the answer below. An airship, in what seemed to be mint condition, was parked at the bottom of the valley. Cid felt a smile growing on his face. They got lucky, really lucky, that they found this. They would still have to beware Cabal ships, but with this they could cover more ground, maybe even find more survivors!

“Red, are you seeing what I’m seeing?”

“I see it alright!”

They both started to race down the winding path to get to that ship. Once at the bottom they raced over to it. Cid climbed up the side, and this time was able to release the manual hatch himself. It was meant for 2 people, which worked perfect in their case. The problem was it had no key, and Cid was 90% sure it was in the stomach of a hound right now. On the bright side, there was always a work around for that sort of thing. The key was easy, just needed something to fit in there and turn it, but the code within the key? Not so easy.

Thankfully, Charon existed and could help him.

“Alright, give me a while with this thing! Keep an eye out for trouble!” Cid called down to Red, who happily nodded. As Cid started to fidget with the starter, Red sat down in the snow. Instead of letting his Ghost carry all of those food supplies, he decided to just put it all in a bag that came with everything. Now that they fround the aircraft, he decided he would put the bag down in the snow, fully intending to leave it there. In Red’s mind, now that they found the ship, they didn’t need these anymore. Of course that was false, but Red logic dictated otherwise. After all, someone else could use those, right? That meant of course that they would be down to whatever Cid was carrying, and none of it was food.

After a while, Red sat down and watched it snow gently down on them instead of actually looking around for the hounds. He could hear Cid muttering some things as he and Charon worked away to rig a replacement key, but didn’t pay too much attention. He suddenly had an urge to lie down in the snow and wave his arms up and down, but the sound of an engine starting distracted him from doing so along with Cid’s cheering that he got it to work.

“Hey Red! Get up here! We’re in business!”Cid bellowed down.

“What business?” Red asked, tilting his head as he stood up with his bag.

“Uh… never mind. Just get up here!”

Red got up and climbed into the craft to the second seat behind Cid. The hatch closed over him and he could feel it lifting off the ground and turning away from the mountains towards where they felt like they needed to go. Once they were over the trees, they started to race towards the west, towards the EDZ.

“This is City Hawk 261, is anyone out there?” Cid called into the radio. There was some static from another channel before someone’s voice came over the comms.

“Yeah, are you looking for a safe place?” she asked.

“That too, and seeing if anyone’s out there.”

“I’ve got a spot out here. I’m making a small gathering of people then taking them to a place out in the EDZ. It’s safe there for these refugees from the city. We can use a ship you know.”

“If you can tell me where you are I can find you. We also have supplies here.”

“Wait, we were supposed to keep those?” Red suddenly asked. Cid said nothing for a moment as he processed what he just heard.

“… What did your friend just say?” the voice over the radio asked.

“…yes we were supposed to keep those-DID YOU SERIOUSLY LEAVE THOSE SUPPLIES BACK THERE?” Cid bellowed back at him.

“Uh… maybe? I though since we had the ship, someone else could use them!” Red was smiling when he made that statement. Cid could feel his lower shutter twitch a little.

“RED! IT’S PROBABLY GOING TO GET EATEN BY THE HOUNDS! WE COULD’VE USED THOSE, AND THESE PEOPLE THIS LADY IS GATHERING COULD’VE USED THOSE!”

“Yeah, but I’ll bet they’ll still find a good home!”

“Look,” the voice called again, “I still need ships to get people out of here and someone that can work radios. Just head out here and we can talk.”

Cid let out a long sigh, “Alright, send your location to this ship’s computer. Its serial number is 53KN190. Least I’m pretty sure it is.”

* * * *

2 days behind the others, Alexander was still not on the mountain yet.

The former Guardian camp had taken his attention, scavenging through it for any weapons and supplies he could get his hands on. The four Guardians that tried to stake out here died a while ago. The radio they set up had gone silent a while ago, which Alexander was partially relieved for. He couldn’t stand to listen to the sobbing Guardian on the other side, scared for his life and the life of his friends. He listened to that Guardian’s death by hounds, and it just made him work faster.

As horrid as he felt for the man, that could also be him. All of these Guardians lying dead on the ground could very easily be him as well.

A submachine gun and another sidearm were the only useful weapons left in this place. The others had been mauled by the hounds. The armor was too chewed up to be any use, not to mention he didn’t really want to touch the ripped up bodies.

As he finally was able to make tracks away from the camp, he heard a most dreadful sound. A howl, and there was no outrunning or dodging it this time. He aimed that submachine gun towards the sound over the hill and started to fire at one of the hounds, only to soon discover that there was a lot more. As much as he tried to, he couldn’t kill them all before two got to him. One leaped up and slashed right through what was left of his armor. He still had the strength to bash its skull in with the butt end of the gun, but he was side blinded by another hound that knocked him on his back. It took all of Alexander’s strength to keep those jaws from closing in on his neck. He managed to throw it off him and get back up to put a few more bullets in it.

He looked around for any others, and once he saw that there were none, he opened the bag to let his ghost out and heal his wound before making a beeline for the mountain. He could see trails that were carved by other fleeing people from the city, and could follow those to get to the other side. He also did not necessarily need to eat, which made it easier for him to make tracks and catch up. Eventually he would, but there was still a lot of distance to cover, and a lot of mountain to climb.

He could see in the sky a familiar figure, one he was told to follow. A falcon, flying over the mountain and through the valley, a sign he was going the right way.

* * * *

Day 4, and Gale’s group finally stumbled upon some good fortune.

Up until then they had just been getting by. They didn’t have enough to eat, and it made the hike up the mountain all the more perilous. They had sprained ankles and other injuries occurring as people slipped on the snow. They didn’t have medical supplies, so it was down to what Gale could makeshift for them. What little fabric she had left she cut off her cloak, soon leaving her down to the thermal suit she wore beneath it. Even that suit had a few holes, which would only make her colder as they tried to traverse the cliffs and valley.

She could see where people had walked before. 2 people in fact had gone along this cliff before her. She was unknowingly following the same path Red and Cid carved out the day before, but it made it easier to navigate. Up the hill she also found the remains of the pilots, but the hounds had since moved on. She followed the now beaten path down, Winter at her side and watching all of the survivors behind her.

It seemed that they had started a quiet chant to help keep their minds off the fear and pain. It started with Dani and Stella singing ‘The Bear Climbed over the Mountain’ as a way to calm the child’s nerves, then it started into a little chant as they kept marching on. It was comforting to Gale, even though she did not sing along. It kept her own spirits up, and helped her keep focus.

Around the corner down the winding path Winter finally piped up, “Gale, I’m picking up a new signal. This one sounds familiar!”

Her eyes lit up a little, “Can you play it through?”

He nodded and opened the channel or her to listen. He was right, it familiar. The voice that was calling out was Ash’s.

“Hellooooo? Anyone out there? I really don’t want to be in this tree anymore!” Her voice had static in it from interference, but was still audible.

“Ash! Is that you?” Gale asked. The survivors stopped singing and gathered closer to listen in.

“Gale? Is that you? Holy shit! I didn’t think I was gonna pick up anyone’s voice, let alone yours!”

“I’m so happy to hear from you Ash! Are you alright? Are you hurt? Is anyone else with you?”

“Whoa, slow down Gale. Relax, I’m fine, Chie took care of me. Sarah’s with me down below. You probably can’t hear her yelling at me though. How about you? You holding up alright?”

“I’m fine, but I have a group of survivors with me. We out of food and I also have a kid with me.”

“Oh,” the voice got further away, which clearly meant she was yelling down at Sarah, “Hey Sarah! Get up here! We need survivor tips! No, don’t try that branch first, try the other one! Not that one! Yeah there you go! Now don’t fall down alright?”

“Stella?” Dani looked up at the old woman, “Is she talking to another Guardian?”

“I believe so. I think they can offer us help.” Stella smiled down at her.

Another voice soon came on the channel as soon as she was in range, “Gale? Can you hear me?”

“Sarah! It’s good to hear from you again!”

“Good to hear from you too. You heard from Alex, or Cid, or even that Red kid?”

“No, I lost Cid back at the city and I haven’t seen either of the Titans.” She felt her heart sinking a little It also meant they didn’t know where any of them were.

“We’ll have to try and find them later. Ok, how many people are with you right now?”

“Nine, including one child and one woman over 50. We also have injured. I think we’re just getting to the other side of the mountain, I can see forest ahead.”

“Ok, you’re not in a bad spot, but you’ve got to get to the woods. You have any weapons?”

“Just a sidearm I salvaged and I don’t have much ammo.”

“Save that for the hounds, they’re vicious. You’re going to have to forage berries and stuff, I can walk you guys through what’s safe and what’s not. I’ll teach you about making traps and stuff for rodents. Anything that moves, kill it and use it for meat. You also need a source of running fresh water when you get off that mountain.”

Gale started to smile, “Alright, tell us everything you know Sarah. By chance, you wouldn’t happen to know where you are though, would you?”

“If I did and I knew where you were, I’d try to meet up with you and just show you, but we don’t have that option. Ash and I were on the other side and in the forest yesterday, and we’ve made tracks. Chie’s picked up another signal out here but it’s really faint. We’re going to go see what it is after I give you instructions. Once you get to the forest, try to get into a high spot and we’ll start talking again.”

“Alright, sounds good.”

The survivors all started to smile. Their luck was finally looking up.

After the quick lesson, they kept walking down the path and found, to their surprise, a stash of abandoned supplies just lying there for the taking. Even better, it was all the things they had been needing, namely food. After looking around, they figured that no one else was around to claim it, and took it for themselves. They sat there eating the dried food with glee, finally filling their stomachs a little. While they did that, Gale noticed marks in the snow where it seemed like a plane was. That was odd, she thought, but she also didn’t really want to question it either, and simply called it good fortune.

Into the forest they soon went, and once they were well in, Gale scaled the tree to the best of her ability Winter could get a better signal. It was there she now heard a signal that Ash and Sarah was most likely going after. Faint, but there. From what little she could make out from it, it sounded like someone was gathering people.

She didn’t know that two of her friends were already there, and one of them was trying to boost that signal.

* * * *

On the fifth day, Sarah and Ash would find the source of that signal.

The woman in charge was someone named Suraya Hawthorne. The moment Cid and Red landed and she saw Charon he could sense the distrust and resentment, simply because they were Guardians. Cid would’ve thought it would’ve been because of the Thorn incident, but it turned out the woman in the poncho just didn’t like Guardians, feeling like they didn’t help the normal people. She seemed to be a little more tolerant of him because he was willing to help her set up her radio signal, but he could sense the resentment even a day later.

“How’s it going up there?” Hawthorne called up to him. He had been up in a tree for the last while now, trying to get the booster working and tying it up on a branch. “You got that thing working yet?”

“Does it look like I’ve gotten it working yet?” he asked sarcastically.

“Well can you hurry up then?”

“You know, patience is a virtue.”

“Not right now it isn’t.”

“Ugh. Give me some time. I’m working as fast as I can.”

Red meanwhile had been sitting on one of the planes, holding onto a gun, and being bored for the last while. There were a few people here with their ships in this clearing. Some were carriers and could take refugees, and others were fighters in case the Cabal got any ideas. The people all were checking over their supplies for when they picked up other people, and whispering nonsense that Red didn’t understand. The lady in the poncho had been rude as well. He was glad Cid was taking care of her, and not him.

He wasn’t really paying attention as he was too busy staring at the cliff, and didn’t notice the two hunters stumble through the brush and finally into the open. Not even when people started to buzz and wander over to them did he get up and see what the fuss was all about. Not even when all hell broke loose would he get up and investigate what was going on.

Sarah was still chewing on a squirrel on a stick when she stumbled through, and Ash was more preoccupied with looking at all the ships gathered here. The few people that were already here stared at them, one of them running over to alert Hawthorne that more people showed up. At least here they certainly felt a little safer, even though it was just starting to be worked out as a gathering place for the lost.

“Well,” Sarah took another bite out of her meat, “We made it.”

“Yeah.” Ash smiled, looking up and seeing a familiar figure in the tree who was trying to climb down, “Hey, is that Cid up there?”

Sarah squinted a little at the figure, but didn’t have time to answer Ash’s question before a voice called to them both.

“Well, glad to see someone else made it through.”

They both looked at the woman in the poncho. Sarah raised a brow at her. She could already tell that she was going to have a problem with that woman. Something about the way she carried herself rubbed Sarah the wrong way.

“Let me guess, Guardians right? Name’s Hawthorne and I’m…” Hawthorne then looked down and noticed what was in Sarah’s hand, “Is… is that squirrel on a stick?”

“Yeah?” Sarah raised a brow, “Why?”

“You know how to hunt for your own food?”

Ash and Sarah looked at each other for a minute then back at her, “Yeah? It’s sort of necessary to survive? Why are you so surprised?”

“I would’ve thought that you Guardians wouldn’t know how to survive out here with your fancy meals.”

Again the two hunters looked at each other before bursting out laughing. Fancy meals? Was this a joke? If it was, it was the best one both of them had heard since the city fell.

“Oh! Oh that was a good one! Us Guardians? Fancy meals?” Ash snorted a little.

“Oh I needed that laugh…” Sarah nearly dropped her food on the ground in her laughter. She did stop laughing however when she noticed the look on Hawthorne’s face. The smile faded quickly, “Wait, you were being serious, weren’t you?”

“Yeah! I was! I didn’t think you fancy pants Guardians knew what surviving was.”

“Oooooh shit…” Ash mumbled a little, now wishing she had some popcorn. Accusing Sarah of not knowing how to survive was like accusing Zavala of being evil.

Sarah raised a brow, passing over her stick to Ash, “Is that seriously what you people think of us? Really? Us, fancy prats that sit around and enjoy life?” she started walking towards her, “Cause you know it’s not like we don’t die over and over on a constant basis while we risk our asses keeping assholes of the City’s doorstep. It’s not like we’re off planet for a weeks at a time surviving on granola bars IF THAT or out in the wilds with only a little food that we can fit in with the big guns we need to make sure we don’t die horrible deaths over and over.”

“You say all that, but I don’t see Guardians helping normal people.” Hawthorne put her hands on her hips and scowled at her. Ash started to chant beneath her breath ‘fight, fight, fight’ as Sarah’s lower eyelid twitched.

“Oh, cause you know, making sure that the Fallen don’t blow up the last village isn’t helping normals. Making sure that the fucking Hive don’t come from the moon and murder everyone isn’t helping normals. Gathering research and resources that can help bring us back into a golden age isn’t helping normals. Making sure the Vex don’t try and terraform this fucking planet into their weird machine isn’t helping normals. Nooooo not at all. Have I also mentioned that without us ‘fancy pants Guardians’ a lot more people would’ve died? This whole damn invasion thing would’ve been a lot sooner and a lot worse?”

People were quietly all looking at each other, brows raised, not sure if they wanted to be on either side of this argument. By now Cid had climbed down and joined the crowd, debating on whether or not he should intervene.

“Alright, if you’re so damn helpful, where’s the group of refugees you could’ve been helping?”

“A day behind. I’ve been giving them tips on how to survive out here. They’re being led by another Guardian, Gale. She’s not the best survivalist though, but she’s a nurse. She’s a lot more about the medical side of things than the survival things.”

Cid let out a small sigh of relief and could feel some weight being lifted off his shoulders. He certainly felt a lot better knowing that she was safe and sound, and from the sounds of it, not too far away.

“Then why aren’t you with them?”

“Oh for the love of-have you tried trying to find a group of people in a forest this thick when you have no idea which direction they are and you’re on foot? Hm? We’ve been chatting through our ghosts, but that’s all we could do for each other. What I do know is that they did find your signal and they’re heading this way. From which direction, no idea.”

“So why weren’t you with them in the first place?” Hawthorne got a little closer now.

“Really? Are we really arguing about this?” Sarah threw her hands up in the air for a moment, “I don’t know it’s most likely because we hightailed it out of there and didn’t find anyone that wasn’t dead!”

“You should’ve searched for people, not just run from the city!”

“Oh my fucking Light, are you serious? This is the argument you’re going with because I’m right and you’re wrong?”

“How do you explain shit then like the crime in the city, the walls, hell, even that Thorn incident 5 years ago!”

Cid felt his heart drop to his stomach. He could already hear the whispering around him. It seems that the tale was not forgotten… it would never be forgotten. He felt his right hand tremble a little as his shoulders sank down. Despite being the tallest one there, he felt incredibly small in that moment.

“Wow, ok, bring up some thing that’s unrelated to what we’re arguing about. Look lady, I really don’t want to keep fighting you, but seriously-!”

“Come to think of it…” Hawthorne turned to Cid. He resisted the urge to cower beneath that glare. Did she know? Did she know from those years ago that he was the culprit? If she did, what would she do? He didn’t want to relive that time again. He already shunned himself from the world once; he didn’t want to be shunned by it, especially when he was working hard to redeem all he had done.

Sarah didn’t see it like that. The way she saw it, Hawthorne was accusing one of her friends of mass murder. She heard the story, everyone had, but she didn’t know who the culprit was. Anyone who did know never spoke of it. She didn’t know Cid all that well admittedly, but she did know he was no murderer.

Before Hawthorne could say anything, Sarah raised her fist and smashed it into the woman’s jaw as hard as she possibly could.

“OOOOH SHIT THIS IS HAPPPENING!” Ash bellowed with a grin. Cid rushed up to Sarah, grabbing her by the waist and trying to pull her away from Hawthorne.

“Sarah! Sarah stop! It’s not worth it!” he shouted at her. She struggled against his grip, and was surprisingly strong for someone her size.

“That bitch was accusing you of murder and calling everyone we’ve done nothing! Even calling us selfish bastards!”

“Sarah! Stop it! That woman knows a safe place and she’s leading people out there! They need her!”

Sarah stopped struggling and instead glared at the woman who was rubbing her jaw in pain and slowly getting up. She let out a low growl and shoved Cid off of her, but didn’t try to attack Hawthorne anymore.

“Fine. That bitch starts up again though I will turn that Poncho into fuel for the next fire.”

* * * *

The next day, as promised, Gale’s group finally arrived.

As they dragged themselves into the temporary camp, others who had also come there immediately went to tend to them and give them much needed food. Gale started to get bombarded with questions, mostly about her health. She was certain she looked… interesting. She hadn’t properly slept at all for the last 6 days and was covered head to toe in grime. While she did feel like hell, she was a lot more concerned with the people that she led here than with herself.

Through the crowd however, she could see one tall figure talking with someone. She felt her heart lifting up at the sight, a bit of energy coming back to her body. There was no mistaking who that was, and she started to smile, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Cid!” she called, starting to push her way through the crowd. Until then he and the hunters had just been staying clear of the crowd and trying to figure out what to do next. They looked up when she called out in time to see her finally slip through all the people. Relief was written all over her face as she ran up to him with open arms. He barely had time to catch her as she barrelled right into him, holding on as tight as her small body would let her.

“You’re safe! Thank goodness! I was scared that…!”

“It’s alright, I’m fine.” Cid smiled a little. Even though he knew she was coming, he still felt a lot better having her physically there and safe from those awful hounds. Still, he also noticed that she wasn’t looking well.

“Are you ok?” he asked.

“I’m fine. Much better knowing you’re safe.”

“Oi! Get a room you two!” Ash called. The comment startled Gale and finally loosen her grip on him. She looked up at him, and he could tell she was lying. She was anything but fine.

Before he could say anything about it though, she ran over to Ash and gave her a hug, “I’m happy to see you safe too!” She then moved onto Sarah and gave her a hug, “And you Sarah! Thank you so much for helping us!”

“Whoa, whoa, time out Gale.” Sarah pried the Awoken off of her and frowned, “What the bloody hell happened to you? When was the last time you slept? You smell like blood and sweat and you’re a mess.”

“I… uh…”

“You young lady are going to take a nap and then when we get to this place, we are going to scrub you head to toe. Trust me, you need it.”

Ash couldn’t help but chortle at the sight. It seemed that Sarah had gone full mom on the Awoken woman. 

“But…” Gale started to protest.

“Don’t you ‘but’ me! Go to sleep! You can play nurse when you don’t look like something out of a Golden Age Zombie movie!” Sarah pointed towards where the sleeping bags were.

“Come on,” Cid reached over and took her hand, “You need to sleep. Your dark circles have dark circles under them.”

Too tired to argue, Gale sighed and let him lead her over there. They walked past Hawthorne who held a wet cloth to her face from yesterday. She raised a brow seeing the exhausted Awoken, then turned to the two hunters.

“Is it a little late to say I wasn’t lying, or I told you so?” Sarah asked with a raised brow, “That girl right there is a nurse, she’ll help the sick and injured, but she needs to sleep first.”

“I wasn’t planning on asking her for help until she did get sleep. Damn, what kind of bloody battle was she in?” Hawthorne mumbled before turning to her, “Look, we got off on the wrong foot yesterday. These people need someone to defend them.”

“And defend them I will. Don’t worry about that. I’ve also been a survivalist for years, past and present life. I know the tools of this trade. This isn’t my first rodeo.”

“If you help these people, I say we can call it a truce.”

“If you don’t accuse my friends of mass murder, I might think about that truce.”

Hawthorne scowled at her, but decided not to say anything about it. Instead she asked, “By the way, have you seen a Falcon anywhere? Named Louis?”

Sarah raised a brow, “Can’t say I have. You have a pet bird?”

“Yep, my best friend.”

“Hey uh, not to interrupt you guys, but do any of you know why Red has been staring at that cliff for like, a day now?” Ash suddenly asked. It was a valid question, as he had gone right back to his perch as soon as he woke up.

“Don’t know.” Sarah shrugged.

“Well, he won’t be staring at it for long. We’re leaving tomorrow. We stay here any longer we’ll have Red Legion breathing on our necks.” Hawthorne told them and turned to see to the other refugees.

* * * *

Following that falcon did lead him in the right direction. Down through a valley not yet traversed he carefully treaded along, staying low in case there were still more Red Legion. The snow had disappeared by now, but the terrain wasn’t much better. He was still on the cliffs above the forest, taking the higher route instead of the lowest one. At this point, he had his ghost out all the time now, just to have someone to talk to. He also picked up the signal, and was hoping he could make it there.

“Alex… are we following that Falcon… or is it following us?” Ghost mumbled. He didn’t have an answer to that question, just the feeling he was going the right way.

The narrow ledge crumbled a little beneath his feet. For the last while he had been creeping ledge to ledge in the chasm he now found himself in, trying to find a safe way down. The bird he was following had perched right at the end of the cliff, overlooking the forest. Alexander couldn’t see it, but just beyond that was the safety of the camp. For now, it was just instinct pushing him forward.

Honestly, he was exhausted. He hardly slept for the last week, and had been dodging Red Legion. On the way here he barely managed to escape another hound attack that left him almost completely out of bullets. He could feel his body getting heavy, and the shutters on his eyes sometimes threatened to close. If the fear of death by falling wasn’t there, Alexander might have dozed off in this chasm by now.

“Easy… one foot in front of the other Alex…” Ghost reminded him.

He carefully crept along, over a log, to another ledge. The bird was closer now, but on the other side. Taking a deep breath, he leaped forward and managed to land on the other side. The bird still did not move, and there was one gap between him and the Falcon that surely had been leading him the whole time. The gap was large, but perhaps if he got a running start…

As soon as he ran and jumped up he realized his mistake. He was just short of grabbing the ledge, and let out a high pitched beep as he fell. When he landed, he didn’t know someone heard him in the bustling camp. He didn’t know that the person who had been staring at the cliff the entire time was now bellowing for someone to investigate the cliff, completely sure he heard his best friend fall down.

He did not die from the fall, but it was a painful awakening, even as his ghost healed the damage done. He could hear some shouting in the distance, but a voice was what caught his attention.

“Oh look,” he could now see the woman in the poncho walking up to him and offering her hand, “Looks like someone left a perfectly good Guardian…” She grabbed his hand and helped him back on his feet, “…lying around. That makes six of you now I guess. Count yourself lucky you showed up just now, we’re leaving.”

“W-Wait, where are we going?” Ghost asked, since Alexander was unable to.

“Somewhere far away from here.” Hawthorne replied. They looked up as the Falcon they were following let out a call and landed right on her arm.

“That Falcon… it’s yours?”

“Name’s Louis, best pilot we got.” She smiled a little at the bird before looking up at Alex, “What about you? Fit to fly?”

Alexander gave a nod to her.

“Good. Time to make yourself useful Guardian. By the way, there’s five others here, you might know em.”

Alexander and Ghost looked at each other for a moment before following the woman into the woods. They quickly came to a clearing, and some very familiar faces greeted him. All five Guardians were waiting for him and brightened up when they saw he was alive and well.

Before anyone could say anything, Alex ran towards them. Red just happened to be the nearest one, and the first one to be scooped up in a bear hug. While he was confused as to why Alex was so relieved and happy to see him, the big goof didn’t really mind. As soon as he put Red down, he went for Ash next, then Sarah (who complained about her ribs again), then Gale, and then even Cid. He was just happy they were alive and well, despite the staggering odds.

But now it was time to leave together. Now it was time to go to the EDZ and to the Shard of the Traveler.


	6. The Farm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could not figure aother song other than the DAI song and at this point, I'm far too lazy to go back an change old work that I've already put through the ringer once

To say The Farm wasn’t interesting would be a poor description. It was hard not to be interesting when you had a full view of a giant shard of the Traveler sitting in plain sight in the distance.

Was it better than the temporary camp? Yes. Was it better than the tower? Absolutely not, but beggars could not be choosers. When the aircraft finally landed, all of them immediately got to work. They had people to feed, guns to check and take care of, baths to make, and finding a place for people to sleep. Clothes were also a top priority, since most of everyone’s clothing was ruined in some shape or form. It seemed like people who had ships were already here setting up shop and working away at making it more ‘homely’ so to say.

“Look… there it is… from that weird dream.” Ash pointed at the shard once they all walked into the place. There were two barns here, a small on the left and another on the right, both abandoned and both would serve a purpose. In the middle of those barns in the distance was the Shard of the Traveler, looming over a dark fog.

“You had that dream too?” Alexander’s ghost asked.

“I think we all had it. If that’s the case it could be a call from the Traveler itself.” Cid mused.

“Well, not like this we’re not going there, that’s for damn sure.” Sarah huffed, “I’m going to start boiling water. I doubt this place has any heating system. And you!” She looked at Gale, “You’re the first one going in the bath! No ifs, ands, or buts about it!”

“Uh… ok?” Gale glanced over to Ash for any sign of help to escape from being mothered, but she just grinned back. Sarah then waltzed into the larger barn on the right, looking for a working tap or water source.

They all split off. Red and Alexander helped with unloading supplies, Gale and Cid started to check around to see what was working or not, Ash took to unloading their firearms and ammo and take a look at what they had, while Sarah started a small wash station for people who needed it. She did manage to find a pot for boiling water over a fire and a barrel that would work for their purposes. It didn’t take long before she had some sheets hanging up for privacy and had someone else helping her with setting out clothes.

“Stella?” Dani asked at one point. The two of them had made themselves busy by putting smaller things away while the two titans carried the heavier boxes. She tugged on Stella’s sleeve to grab her attention now, “Why is that lady dragging the Miss Gale by the arm?”

“I’m not really sure Dani. I know she was making a wash station. Speaking of which, I think you could benefit from a bath yourself, don’t you think?” Stella smiled a little at her.

“Can I have a bubble bath?” she asked.

“Well, I’m not sure if we can make one.”

She pouted a little, but she did not complain, “That’s ok.”

It was right about there they heard a loud shriek from inside the barn. Dani tilted her heard as she listened to Gale yell something about it being too hot and how she felt like it was burning her skin.

“…Later… when it cools down….”

Cid looked up from his work for a moment with a raised brow hearing the noise before going back to checking if the lights still worked. From the sounds of it, he didn’t want to be anywhere near that nonsense. Though admittedly he could go for a wash cloth right about now to get rid of the grime on his face.

“Excuse me,” a familiar voice called out to him. He turned around and was genuinely surprised to see the face that looked at him now. He hadn’t seen the crytarch in a long time, but Tyra Karn stood in the doorway with a puzzled expression on her face. He hadn’t seen her with the other survivors, had she gotten here before they did?

“Tyra?” he asked, leaving his work to go see her.

“Ah, so you do know me. I’m sorry, losing my connection to the light has been disorienting. I thought you seemed familiar.” The Awoken gave a nod.

“It’s also been a year or two. I haven’t seen you since my last visit to Fellwinter’s peak.”

She laughed a little, “Ah, I’m starting to remember now. Cid, right? I remember Saladin telling me all sorts of stories about you and your friends. Now don’t tell me, let me think of their names. Edna, Paul-9, Marlene-11, Darin, and Tom…?”

“Paul-7, but you almost got it.”

Another laugh, “Well, better than I was doing earlier. I couldn’t remember Rahool’s name for Traveler’s sake.”

“I’ll take it as you haven’t heard from any of them?”

She shook her head, “I’m afraid not. If I do though you’ll be the first to know. In the meantime however I need to finish setting up my equipment. I must admit, your presence does make me less worried, but I hope this isn’t over even your head, Iron Lord.”

She slipped back outside and left him alone in the building.

I hope it’s not either. He thought to himself as he walked back to the fuse box he was looking at.

“You know,” Hawthorne’s voice startled him and he whirled around. She stood in the doorway where Tyra had just been, “you do look really familiar.”

“Familiar how?” he asked.

“Like, not in a good way. 5 years ago 32 people were killed. They say a possessed Guardian, an Exo, shot them up… but I still wonder if he was really possessed.”

“He was. I know him.” Cid narrowed his eyes a little.

“How do you know? Unless you were the guy who did it, you couldn’t say for sure. Look I don’t want to go around accusing anyone of that kind of crime, but there’s something about you that I can’t shake.”

They stared at each other, Hawthorne’s brows narrowed in suspicion, and Cid remained stone faced. Inside, he hoped, prayed that she wouldn’t do anything or say for a fact that she knew it was him. He honestly didn’t know what she would do, but he couldn’t afford to have everyone thinking about this. Things were bad enough without people knowing he was a murderer. He hadn’t even told Gale. That was the person he was most worried about finding out. His closest friend, sweet little Gale who just wanted to help people, friends with the man who nearly lost himself and killed so many, what would she think?

“Just… consider yourself on watch, alright?” Hawthorne thankfully let it go and walked away. Once she was far enough, he let out a small sigh of relief.

Of course, of all times, the past had to start catching up with him. He still didn’t know how to tell Gale, nor when, mostly because he was afraid of how she’d react. The last thing he wanted was to lose her because of the biggest mistake of his life. Not to mention Sarah, Ash, Alex, he didn’t want them to push him away either.

He let out a long sigh, going back to busying himself. He didn’t want to think about it anymore.

* * * *

By the end of the day, everyone was tired. Everything was in place at least, everyone in cleaner clothes or equipment or at the very least was patched up. Every injury was taken care of to the best of Gale’s abilities, everyone had a place to lay down their heads.

Stella could feel the air go from relieved to dark. Now that they were all safe here, what was next? The Light was gone, the Cabal were still on the move, not to mention the Fallen were also now a problem. It wouldn’t take long before the bandits would find this place and start raiding it. Sure they had weapons and people, but was it really enough? If the Cabal found this place, surely they would simply be wiped off the map. If the Fallen found this place, how many raids could it handle before it collapsed?

Sitting on the fence in a field she watched a few of the other lost children play with a ball they found in the barn. Dani was not among them. She was instead at Stella’s feet picking at the grass, keeping her hands and mind occupied. She’d rather that however than for her to be thinking the same things she was right now, or the fact her parents were dead.

Or maybe she was thinking about that. She hadn’t exactly been the most cheerful little girl, and no one could blame her.

“I too have dreamed about the Shard.” Stella looked up from the little soccer game to the cryptarch talking to the 6 guardians. She had seen the Awoken wandering around, sometimes looking a little lost as she seemed to forget things. Now it seemed they were talking about something rather important, so she listened in.

“It’s a jagged, broken edge: a wound that will never heal. I cannot bring myself to trust it however. It’s spent so long away from the Traveler that it’s become corrupted.” Tyra added with a frown.

“We still need to go there.” Ash folded her arms across her chest.

“Uh, newsflash, this is a really bad idea, especially as we are now!” Sarah raised her voice in protest. Seeing that an argument was going to break out, Tyra decided to move away from the problem. Alex quietly also moved away, sitting down on the grass instead and staring at the shard, trying to tune out the argument. Red honestly wouldn’t even pay attention to it.

“It’s not going to get any better staying here and praying the Cabal won’t blow us sky high, or the Fallen for that matter.” Cid argued back.

“We’ve got no good armour. Hell, Gale is down to normal clothes and a thermal suit, and you’re not doing much better. Alex has next to nothing as well, Ash and I don’t exactly have resilient armour either, and we don’t have great weapons either. Still can’t find ammo for our good guns so we’re stuck with what was salvaged.”

“We still have to try Sarah!” Ash protested.

“Do you have any idea what could be crawling over there? Could be a bunch of Fallen, could be the Cabal, could even be some of those creepy ass Taken things. And how many of them are going to be there? You guessed it, a lot! All of them better armed than we are.”

“And the army that’s going to invade us eventually is going to be worse off than whatever’s in there?” Cid asked.

“Guys, please!” Gale spoke up, “We need to stop arguing!”

“It’s a suicide mission right now!” Sarah protested, “Can’t you see that Gale?”

“I…”

“So what are we supposed to do, sit here and twiddle our thumbs until we all get killed?” Ash shouted.

“No, of course not! We need better armour and guns, and we need to know where to salvage them!” Sarah yelled back.

“By then it might be too late!”

Stella let out a long sigh watching them argue between themselves on what to do. She looked around at the people who were also watching this and could feel their spirits falling. If not even the Guardians were clear on what to do, then what did the future hold? They all felt anxious, knowing that at any moment really the Cabal could come and bomb them. They really didn’t have time to argue for too long. So much was at stake.

“Stella…?” Dani asked.

“Yes?”

“Why are they fighting?”

“…I believe it’s because they are just as frightened as we are.”

The child stopped tearing up the ground, “Guardians can be afraid?”

“Absolutely they can. They are very brave individuals, but bravery does not mean they are fearless. Only fools have no fears. These people died over and over for us, and now they only have one life left to give. It would make sense that they are afraid to die, and also afraid to fail. Death is now permanent to them, failure now means the end of everything. They already failed to protect the city because they were caught off guard, now they are afraid to fail once more and lose everything.”

Dani looked up at Stella, “Are they also afraid that others will get hurt?”

“I think that might be the thing they’re afraid of the most.”

Dani paused for a moment before standing up, “You should sing to them.”

Stella raised her brows, “Well, I’m not sure if that will…”

“Your singing makes everything better. When I was scared on the way here, you made it better. You can make it better for everyone here too.”

Dani looked at her with those brown eyes and Stella felt something stir in her heart. Her face, those chubby cheeks, the way she pleaded with her eyes for the old woman to say something, it was hard to say no. By then the yelling had stopped, and the Guardians all looked disheartened, along with everyone around them. Friends holding onto friends for comfort, others praying for answers, others looking like they were about to give up.

She couldn’t stay silent. Not anymore.

Stella stood up, tall and proud, and opened her mouth to let out a beautiful held note to grab everyone’s attention. Out then came the words of hope, ones that everyone had needed. She didn’t even know the origins of the song, but it was one that was powerful enough to stay with everyone well after it’s time before the Golden Age.

Shadows Fall  
And hope has fled  
Steel your heart  
The Dawn will come

The night is long  
And the path is dark  
Look to the sky  
For one day soon

The Dawn will come…

“The shepard’s lost…. and his home is far….” Gale began to sing along again, but this time was not afraid to sing. She also stood tall and proud now as she watched the woman cross the field and towards the main crowd of people.

“Keep to the stars… the dawn will come…” Dani now joined the growing choir and followed behind Stella, listening to her powerful voice.

“The night is long… and the path is dark…” Now even the hunters couldn’t help but join in on the chorus.

“Look to the sky, for one day soon… the Dawn will come…” Now even people like Cid and Hawthorne joined in. Ghost also tried to sing to the best of his ability for Alexander, but it was probably a good thing his voice was drowned out.

Bear your blade  
And raise it high  
Stand your ground  
The dawn will come

The night is long  
And the path is dark  
Look to the sky  
For one day soon

The Dawn will come…

Cheering then filled the crowd as they applauded the songstress. Hawthorne who looked down from her perch couldn’t help but wonder where all that came from, but could admit it was a much needed pick up in terms of morale. Songs however were only going to get them so far.

And Stella would go that one step further, by giving the frightened guardians a slight push. She turned to them with a gentle smile. While people chatted and were distracted, she walked up to them with the air of a Guardian who was centuries old and wise.

“Stella…” Gale started, but the woman raised her hand.

“You all know what is at stake here. You can be the very thing that turns the tides in our favour. Though the shard is corrupted, if it has any power left to give you, who are you to deny it?”

She felt Dani tug at her sleeve again. When she looked down, she could see the child was all smiles.

“I know one thing…” She opened her arms up to Dani who happily jumped up so she could be lifted up by Stella, “That so long as I breathe, I will sing my songs for these people. I hope I will sing joyous triumphant ones about you soon.”

She walked away from them carrying the small child with her. They all looked at each other. They all knew what must be done, the question was when. It wasn’t going to be easy no matter what, and at that point they really didn’t have much.

“…We’ll deal with it in the morning.” Sarah suggested. It seemed that everyone was content with that (even though Red still had no clue what was happening) except for one. Alexander had only taken his eyes off of the shard when the songstress began her song. The more he stared, the more he wanted to start running towards it, through the fields, the ruined towns, reaching the light buried deep in the shadows. He knew it had to be done, and there was no point waiting in his mind. There was far too much at stake to be waiting around. The idea of waiting made him nervous, it felt wrong to wait for some reason.

He quietly voiced this to Ghost as he watched the people disperse. He knew he couldn’t do this alone, but as he finally stood up, he already had his fireteam in mind. He quietly told Ghost to grab Cid’s and Ash’s attention, and the little one flew over, gently hitting them both in the shoulder and stopping them from following the crowd inside the barn.

“What’s up Alex?” Ash asked as she turned around to look at him.

“Guys, we can’t wait.” Ghost translated for him, “I can’t explain it, but I’ve got a bad feeling about waiting. If we go now, even just the three of us, and get our light back, we’ll be prepared for whatever’s coming next. Then we can guide the other three through whatever’s there and keep them safe.”

“This is a big risk Alex. Even with all 6 of us we’re taking a risk and now even more of one with only 3 of us. We just got done arguing this.” Cid folded his arms.

“We can do this, I know we can. You never let anything stop you before Cid, why should this be any different?”

Cid could name a few reasons why it should, but he didn’t voice them.

“If we wait, we’re dead anyways.” Ghost was still translating the beeps, “We should go now and get this done as soon as we can. That way we have our light back, and a chance to stop Ghaul.”

“Wait, who’s Ghaul?” Cid asked.

“Oh, he’s the Cabal leader. Very rude by the way.”

“Alright, you convinced me, I’m in.” Ash finally spoke up. She looked up at Cid, placing her hands on her hips, “Come on big guy, I know you want your powers back just as badly as we do.”

Cid finally let out a long sigh through his nose, “Alright, I’m in.”

“Great!” Ghost lit right up as did his Guardian, “Now uh, how do we get there?”

“We fly of course,” Ash started grinning ear to ear, “I don’t think they’ll mind us borrowing a couple ships.”

A few minutes later as the sun was setting in the distance, everyone in the camp could hear the sound of an engine starting up. The first ones to run outside were Gale and Sarah, especially as they had been wondering where the other three had gone. As soon as they stepped out the door, they heard Hawthorne yelling over the radio.

“Hey! Where do you think you’re going?”

“To the Shard. Very sorry about this by the way!” Ghost piped over it.

“Well it wasn’t like I was gonna stop you, I know a thing or two about instinct. You could’ve asked for the ships though.”

“It wasn’t you we were worried about.”

“ALEXANDER-1 WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!” Sarah bellowed as she got close.

“Ah! Sorry Sarah! But there’s no time to waste!” poor Ghost stuttered out. The sound got close, and the three women looked up to see 3 ships sailing off towards the shard.

“Hey, I’m not gonna stop them.” Hawthorne shrugged, “Sometimes you just gotta listen to your gut.”

“I’m going to kill them…” Sarah growled, “If they don’t die by whatever’s there I’m going to kill them.”

“Sarah, you can growl later! We need to go after them before they really are killed!” Gale shouted at her. She turned to yell at Gale, but kept her mouth shut knowing she was right.

“Let’s go. We’re taking Red. He can at least be a meat shield.” Sarah muttered the last part out.

“Sarah! That’s awful!” Gale shouted.

“You can at least ask nicely for the ships!” Hawthorne yelled after them.

A few minutes later, the crowds watched another three ships take off towards the shard. Tyra still stood by her mistrust of the shard, but the old woman that stood beside her, was smiling and cheering the Guardians on.

“Eyes up Guardians. You can do this.” Stella softly spoke.


	7. The Black Forest

“You think she’s going to forgive us for that stunt?” Ghost asked.

“Yeah, eventually.” Ash shrugged, “She can’t stay mad at us if we come back with our powers.”

“With that in mind, stay on your toes. We only have one shot at this.” Cid warned them.

The three of them decided to transmat themselves down on a piece of broken highway just before the twisted forest. They weren’t too worried about leaving the ships to park themselves or alone; it wasn’t likely anyone would be here. Before them stood a wall made out of scrap shipping containers, cars, anything the bulldozers could push against the wall in a hurry and signs in German saying ‘KEEP OUT’ or ‘DANGER’ or ‘QUARENTINE ZONE.’ That was the only thing standing between them and the twisted forest inside.

Honestly, they weren’t exactly the best equipped either. Their weapons were weak salvaged versions except for Ash who had her sword. Alex’s armor was holding together by a hope and prayer and Cid’s robes were in tatters from his fall off of the hospital roof. Ash wasn’t wearing armor meant for resilience, but more for stealth and the men both were missing their helmets. Still, it wasn’t like they really had the time to find something better, if it still existed.

Alexander took point, since he was the one that wanted to come here so badly in the first place, and walked up to the wall with his salvaged sidearm in his hand. Moving along the left side he came to a small gap amidst a section made most of cars. He got down on his hands and knees and just managed to squeeze through the rusted twisted metal to the other side.

They certainly weren’t joking when they called this place a ‘dead zone.’ The grass that had been so green on the other side was now black and sickly. Skeletons of vehicles littered the street, and further in they could see how time and corruption had not been kind to the rest of the place. The trees had grown and twisted about, branching off in epicormic patterns and had no leaves to speak of. The black branches seemed to weave together overhead and a dense fog was just the cherry on top for an overall creepy we-should-not-be-here vibe. He nearly jumped at the sound of his companions crawling through the small gap with all of this going on.

The three of them looked at each other questioning whether or not they really wanted to do this, but they all knew there was little choice. Leaping over a small gap in the road they found themselves in what used to be a tunnel in the hillside, but was now just a graveyard for vehicles. The roots from the overgrown trees had come through the ceiling a long time ago. Ash could feel the hair on his neck standing on end as she could hear the dripping of water and the chill from the fog.

It seemed that the rest of the structure had collapsed a while ago, but it still left a path through an old cave system. The further in they got, the darker it was, and eventually they had to take their ghosts out to be their light. The sight of Charon shivering with the same fear that had been creeping into his body made Cid hesitate for a moment before stepping into the cave any further.

This is a bad idea.

What choice do we really have?

He took a deep breath and started following them again. For a moment he wondered how Alexander seemed so calm. He could see the slight tremble in Ash’s gun as she walked forward, her unusually cautious steps, all signs that she was just as nervous as Cid himself was. But as they found a small opening in the cave where the ceiling had come down, Cid could see the evidence that Alexander was just as terrified. A sound rang out, a very familiar sound to Cid that made his heart jump out of his chest, and Alexander nearly fell into the room.

“You heard that too big guy?” Ash asked quietly. He nodded in response.

“Fallen, keep your eyes out.” Cid told them, quietly deciding to take point now. Down the slope into the opening, he looked around, listening for sounds other than Ash and Alexander sliding down behind him. Fallen were known for stealth, especially now that they were on the losing end of their war with the city, and it wasn’t a huge surprise they were here at the shard, trying to get back the light they lost.

There was a sound, a sound of something moving, and Cid whirled around and shot the source in the head. As soon as the shot went off a war cry echoed off the walls from other Fallen. A wave of them came through the opening on the other side, weapons drawn, ready to kill the creatures that stood in their way of the Great Machine for far too long.

Ash drew her sword, but as soon as it met with the flesh of a Dreg she could tell something was off. What would have normally sliced straight through the creature was met with resistance she wasn’t used to. She hadn’t used it since the city fell and hadn’t realized she didn’t have the strength needed anymore to use it right until now. It was now stuck inside the Dreg’s shoulder, and she had to put her foot on the creature’s chest and rip it out. On the bright side, it was in enough pain she could switch to her handcanon and put it out of its misery.

At least she found that out sooner rather than later.

Cid clenched his jaw as they kept blinking all over the place, making him waste shots. It was almost like they he couldn’t pull any magic on them and they were trying to purposely piss him of even more than he already was. The teleporting thing was annoying before, but now it was just infuriating. Between the three of them however, they did shoot them all down, but it cost them more ammo than they had wanted to use. Salvaging the bodies did not yield promising munitions either.

Back into the darkness they walked through another hole into what seemed to be a mine. The lights were still working, which allowed their ghosts to return to the safety of transmat. Even with the lights on they were still on edge. Every drip from the ceiling made them turn to see if anything was going to attack them.

It opened up into a small workspace. The steel that once held the place up with integrity now were rotting and weak. The stairs on the left that lead up and through an opening on the other side of the room creaked and groaned beneath their weight. Ash was surprised Alexander didn’t just fall straight through them with how rotten they were.

Once outside they could see they were actually above the shard in the distance. In the fog they could see a piece of it was still intact, even though darkness was eating away at it slowly but surely.

“The Traveler sure as hell better fucking know what he’s doing sending us out here.” Ash mumbled. The rest of the flooring to their right had rotted and fallen away a long time ago. An old shipping container was wedged between old concrete pillars and the building, bridging the gap for them to get down safely. They hopped down (thanking the Traveler that it didn’t fall down when they landed on it) and slowly made their way down onto solid ground once more.

“So Cid,” Ash started to talk, unable to handle the silence anymore, “any idea on how… all this happened?” she motioned to the forest around them. They were now passing by wrecks of planes that the Fallen had converted into their homes.

“Honestly, not a damn clue. If I were to hazard a guess, when the collapsed happened and this piece fell off the Traveler, it wasn’t being constantly purified by it anymore. Seems like it didn’t like sitting in the ground in Europe and it slowly started corrupting and eating itself.”

“Gross. And this is the thing we’ve all been dreaming of. Great.”

Stepping through some brush they finally were able to get to the Shard. As they saw earlier, it was eating itself, but there was still a good portion of it left that was still untouched. Instantly they felt themselves drawn to its light. They didn’t notice as they walked beside the corrupted side towards the pure middle that they were close to a Fallen camp, and that camp knew they were there.

Something that wasn’t them broke a dead branch.

They turned around facing the opposite of the shard to see a whole army of Fallen waiting for them. All of them armed to the teeth with a large Captain at the back with one of those Scorch Canons. They didn’t even have time to curse before the Fallen started raining bullets on them, the Mauraders charging forward with their blades, the Dregs dashing forward with the Shanks. The three Guardians scattered, taking shelter behind rocks and debris. They could hear the sound of their pounding feet rushing to kill them.

They were many, and the powerless guardians were few.

It started with Alexander, the least experienced of all of them. As he shot the incoming horde he forgot about the Mauraders. It was only when he felt one of them slice into his side did he remember they were coming after him. He turned and shot it in the face, but there were more that were already putting their blades into his shoulder and his arm.

“Alex!” Ash shouted, shooting the creatures near him. Once they fell over she dashed over to help him, but only a step away she was knocked over by an energy bullet piercing her right side. She fell over behind cover, but was still reeling from the impact.

“Ash! Alex!” Cid now made the dash to help both of them, sliding under the cover of the rock they hid behind. Alexander’s ghost was already healing the damage done, and Ash just got her ghost out of her bag. Cid peeked over the rock to see how many were left, only to see they disappeared.

He felt Alex tugging at his robes and turned around to see where they went. Standing in front of them with the Scorch Canon pointed at the three of them was the captain and his remaining crew. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to run. They couldn’t kill him in time and the rest of his army.

This can’t be the end. Alexander thought. It can’t end here. If we fail here then what’s going to happen to all those people? What’s going to happen to the world? There must be a way out of this. This can’t be it!

It would be an awfully short story if it was Alex.

“HEY ASSHOLES!” a familiar voice screeched, catching everyone off guard. When the Fallen looked to the sound they were treated to a barrage of bullets from Red, Gale, and Sarah who had followed them all the way there, only a few steps behind. Taken by surprise, they stood no chance and they were gunned down in a matter of seconds.

“Would you kindly fuck off?” Sarah snarled behind her mask.

“Are you guys alright?” Gale shouted as she ran up to them. She still was only wearing normal clothes over top of her thermal suit and no helmet. Alexander gave a thumbs up in response as he stood up with Ghost.

“Yeah…” Ash groaned as she felt Chie healing her wound, “That hurt like a bitch though.”

“You want to explain to me what the hell you three were thinking?” Sarah growled at them, taking her mask off to show how angry she was with them as her ghost put it back into transmat.

“Aw Sarah, give us a break, we nearly died. Can the mothering wait until after we get back?” Ash whined as she stood up and took her own mask off, Chie taking it off of her hands.

“The key words here are ‘nearly died’ Ash! If we weren’t there…!”

“Sarah, stop it.” Alexander’s Ghost spoke for his Guardian. When they all turned towards him, Alexander was already standing in front of the shard, holding up Ghost to it. The voice didn’t sound as distorted anymore with just that motion alone; and it reminded them of why they all came here.

A moment later, they all had their ghosts in their hands and were offering it to the shard. They could feel it in their hands, a slight tingle of something very familiar. A sweet gentle touch that made the holes left behind in their hearts ache.

“I… I haven’t been this close to the… Traveler’s light since…..” Ghost floated up towards it, the other five ghosts following suit. Just from that act alone they could see them begin to perk up, their voices getting clearer as they found the light in the Shard.

“Everyone, hold onto your helmets if you have them.” Charon warned them. The ghosts opened themselves up, and the shard responded in kind with a bright shining light. Six beams of light, one from each ghost to their Guardian, radiated out, lifting them off their feet. They could feel it, their souls become whole again: the surge of energy and light returning their vigour once more. Their bodies were no longer heavy, but light, full of life and magic.

It finally put them on the ground, They could feel it, their light was back. They were back. Their ghosts danced happily around them, happy to be back to their normal selves as well. Alexander reached for everyone and did his best to pull everyone into a hug. Even though he couldn’t get his arms around everyone, they all did their best to return the group hug.

A sound rang out, another wave of Fallen. This time however they were not afraid. They all turned towards the sound, standing tall and proud. As the Fallen started to crawl from wreckage on the other side, they didn’t have a clue the force they were about to reckon with.

“Red… smash them.” Alexander’s ghost translated. He seemed a bit surprised hearing that from Alexander, who was always the careful one, but seeing the smile from his best friend the man started to grin ear to ear and charge headfirst into the fray. Sparks flew off his body as the natural Striker felt his powers come back to him just as easily as before. Alexander was right on his heels, shield in his hand, watching his back as they began to plough through the crowd.

They watched an arrow fly right by them and land in the middle of the Fallen army. Tethers quickly reached out and grabbed anything in its range, weakening them and slowing them down. Gunshots rang out, killing any of the larger stronger opponents that wouldn’t die to the Sentinel or Striker right away. They watched Ash dive to the back, Golden Gun in hand, shooting everything in her way.

They all paused for a moment hearing another war cry from the Fallen from their left. The four of them had mostly cleaned up the first wave, but now a second one was running out of the woods. They then witnessed Cid soaring into the air, his wings spreading from his back, and summoning that flaming sword. The Fallen below stood no chance against the hellfire he rained down on them, destroying most of the crowd in a matter of seconds. It was almost as if Cid had never lost his powers at all.

The survivors all ran together, hoping for one last chance to take out the Guardians. They weren’t paying attention to the last member, who was flying behind them. They wouldn’t turn around until they heard the sound of a Novabomb being summoned by the Warlock. By then, it was far too late to escape it, as she threw it down on them, obliterating them all in an instant. As the light died down, they all came together once more with the sweetest victory they ever had.

“Awww yeah! We’re back baby!” Ash shouted and jumped in the air, testing if she could still do a double jump and getting even more excited when she could. The Titans tried their lifts, successfully bringing themselves into the air for a short time. Gale flew over them with glee, happy that she could again, even if for a short time.

Though he was also happy, Cid couldn’t bring himself to celebrate with them. Throughout the battle he had felt something that the others didn’t. He had his light back yes, but with it came a hole. He knew what it meant, but didn’t dare to say a word. He didn’t want to put a downer in this celebration.

“Alright people, let’s get the hell out of here and head home.” Sarah called. They could all certainly agree with that notion and began their run out of the Black Forest.

The tide of this war was now beginning to turn.


	8. The EDZ Blues

The Farm celebrated that night when they returned.

How could they not? Their Guardians had the Light back, which meant they now stood a chance against the Cabal and the Fallen. Stella was chanting songs of triumph and hope for a while until she had to put Dani to bed, and Tyra was just simply happy they survived and the best result came from the encounter.

Even though they had their Light back however, they knew it would not be easy to bring the fight to Ghaul. In the wee hours of the morning, the six Guardians were awake still, trying to formulate a plan of sorts out in the field.

“Considering how they took out our air fleet and we’re down to these small ships, we’re not in the best position.” Sarah started, folding her arms.

“Not to mention by now they’ve most likely already gotten those shields back up and running. We can’t go at it from the sides, nor the air.” Gale mused.

“So we go with my original plan and stow away on a ship and put a bullet in his head.” Ash suggested.

“Which means we need to do some scouting and see if any ships are even heading that way or if it’s possible, which means we need to get close to an army of about half a million Cabal and then some. Sounds like a Hunter specialty.” Sarah added.

“Even if we do make it onto that ship and kill Ghaul we still have the Traveler to worry about and the rest of the army.” Cid sighed, still feeling off.

“We also have a lot of scattered refugees out there. I overheard Hawthorne talking about setting up a better radio signal to bring people here.” Ghost translated.

“So Sarah and Ash can do some scouting near the city, check the situation, see if it’s even possible to stow away on the ships, and the rest of us can work on that radio beacon.” Gale started to smile a little as she said that.

“The more people we get to the farm, the better, not just innocents. Guardians too, soldiers, anyone that can pick up a gun and fight the Cabal. We need numbers if we have a hope in hell we can keep this place safe and retake the city.” Cid mused.

“One of us can stay here then and keep the Fallen out, and I’m voting the one who isn’t paying attention right now.” Alexander pointed to Red who was juggling a pulse grenade instead of listening as Ghost spoke.

“The injured here don’t need me right now, and I feel like it’s probably better if he stays here. He can handle that much… right?” Gale asked with a raised brow.

“If he can’t, then we’re in a big trouble.” Cid sighed, “On the bright side I don’t think they’ve found this place plus there’s a lot of other people with guns. It should be fine.”

“Sounds like we have a game plan.” Ash grinned ear to ear.

“Yeah we do!” Ghost piped up, not translating for once as he flew up in the middle of them, “Highfive everyone! Oh… right.” The bashful ghost then slipped back to Alexander’s side.

“Alright then, I’m going to sleep then. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.” Sarah rubbed her eyes and started to walk back towards one of the barns. Alex walked over to Red and stated to nudge him towards the barn while Ash followed Sarah, letting out a huge yawn. Gale was just about to follow, but paused for a moment, instead turning towards Cid who had his gaze on the night sky. She had thought something was off with him, but she could see from his sunken shoulders and how his body seemed to droop that something was wrong.

“Cid…” she started as she walked to his side, looking up to see his face, “Are you ok?”

His gaze fell on her. As far as he was concerned, she had other things to worry about than his wellbeing, “I’m fine. Just tired.” He sighed.

“You know, every time you say you’re fine, you’re clearly not.” Gale reached up and gently grabbed his upper arm, preventing him from just leaving outright, “You can talk to me, you know that.”

A part of him did want to tell her how he felt. He could still feel that hole gnawing away at him. From what he heard from others, when the light of others mingles with you, a part of it stays with you. When the owner of that light dies however, it leaves you as well. This was far too painful for it to be just his friends beinf lightless.

Regardless, he couldn’t really dwell on it. There were people who needed to be saved, a city to take back, a Cabal leader to defeat, he couldn’t stop now because of this, as much as he wanted to. Still that hole kept eating at him, made him wonder just who was gone forever, how they died, were they alone, all sorts of questions swirled in his head.

“Cid,” she gave his arm a gentle squeeze, “Talk to me.”

The way she looked at him, worry creasing her face a little, those golden eyes glowing so softly and gently instead of the piercing brightness it usually was, the slight shimmer on her greyish-blue skin, it was tempting to tell her. She was worried, and really nothing he could say would make her feel any better. In the end however, he couldn’t do it. Not right then and there. He felt like if he said a word about it that something in him would break, and he couldn’t afford anything to break now.

“It’s fine.” He lied, trying to put on a smile. “Nothing to worry about.” He then reached up with his rebuilt hand and gently pried hers off of his arm, “I’m going to sleep, you should too. Long day tomorrow and all.”

When he walked away, he didn’t dare turn to look at her face. He felt guilty for lying to her, and he knew she was probably still worried. He hoped she would forget about it, and turn her attention to other things.

She didn’t.

* * * *

Alex? Alex dear can you hear me?  
Ah, yes good you can  
See? I told you that you can do it  
You always did have a drive to get things done

But this isn’t enough  
We both know this isn’t enough  
If we’re to get numbers we need Guardians  
Which means we need to find the Leaders

Alex, find Zavala.  
Show him that Light or not  
The city can still be saved  
And you are much more than they think you are

Carve out your own path my dear  
Feel the burning in your heart to make things right  
I’ll be with you  
and I’ll be waiting at our favourite lake

* * * *

“Well it sounds like you guys already have a plan, and the more of you helping us with this comm network, the better.” Hawthorne seemed to be in a much better mood that morning when they came to her to explain what they were up to.

“Sarah and Ash already are scouting around, seeing how bad it is back at the city and what we’re looking at. Red can stay here just in case, and the three of us can head out and work on this.” Cid explained.

“Good, cause we’re gonna need all the help we can get. The sooner we get this signal set up, the better. I sent a friend out into the EDZ last night, name’s Devrim Kay. Good guy, great shot, but don’t tell him I said that. He can fill you guys in. I’m assuming if uh…” Hawthorne looked at Gale, “What’s your name?”

“Gale.”

“If Gale’s going with you, all the injured are fine.”

“For now, yes. Believe me though, once this goes up I’m sure I’ll be very busy.” Gale let out a small sigh through her nose.

“Alright then. If you guys give him a hand, I’ll consider it a personal favour.”

“Will do! Don’t worry, we’ll have that signal up in no time!” Ghost translated. Hawthorne raised a brow, but she didn’t ask the obvious question that was on her mind. She never did talk to Alex before now, and wondered why a Guardian didn’t have a proper voice.

“Fire up the engines of those planes, I’ll give you directions.”

They all nodded in response. It didn’t take long for them to be in the air and flying towards an abandoned town bordering close to the shard. Hawthorne called the area Trostland, but it was hard to say what it really was back in the Golden Age. It seemed that it once was larger, connected by a bridge to the other part of town across the river, but it had collapsed a long time ago.

As they got closer and transmatted themselves on the edge of the broken bridge they could see that Devrim had been busy the last while. The church that Hawthorne said he would be in now was helping to support a large radio tower that would serve as a base for the transmissions. The only problem was that they could see the Fallen were already here and crawling about among the decaying buildings and crumbling structures.

“Looks like he got a good start Hawthorne.” Ghost called over the radio.

“Good, now to send that signal blasting into space so the whole world can hear it.” Hawthorne’s voice sounded though Ghost, “Don’t get cocky now, the EDZ is rough. I’ll bet the Fallen are in a tizzy.”

“We’ll be careful.” Gale assured her. They all turned and looked up at the crumbling church. From inside the highest window n the bell tower they could see the end of a sniper rifle, waiting for the Fallen to make a wrong move. The three of them ran across the street to avoid a fight and walked inside the church through what used to be a place for double doors. The inside was being choked by vegetation, large holes had been blown out of the sides, some of the pillars were no longer holding up the concrete arches and were instead freestanding. Most of the stained glass had shattered by now, and the only thing that bridged the gap between the ground floor and the floors in the tower was makeshift platforms. The place was ready to come down at any minute as far as they were concerned, which put Devrim’s choice of buildings into question. Still, it wasn’t like many other buildings around here were much better.

Climbing and flying upwards they came upon the man. He stood beside the window with his sniper in hand, looking at the three of them with a raised brow. He seemed to be the scrufy sort, but her wore the very familiar uniform of the City Militia.

“Guests? And here I have no tea to serve. These are dire times indeed.” He spoke with an accent whose origins were lost to time, “Devrim Kay the 8th, city militia, back when there was a city…” he mumbled that last part out.

“A pleasure to meet you.” Gale spoke as she and Cid bowed a little in respect while Alex just waved. He didn’t get the whole Warlock bowing thing himself, but who was he to judge?

“The pleasure is mine. It’s always good news when Guardians have their powers. Right, first thing on the docket,” he motioned to the window outside, “is to contact other refugees about the farm. I’ve gotten started as you can see but even though I’m a damn good shot, these Fallen are giving me a devil of a time. I dare say, you can handle a few rounds with the enemy. I’ve seen what Guardians can do.”

“Alright, so we clear the area so we can get to work on this. Sounds easy enough.” Ghost translated. Devrim raised a brow at the strange Guardian.

“Is your voice box broken? I thought Ghosts could fix that.”

“It’s uh… we don’t really know why it’s like that.” Ghost spoke on his own that time.

Devrim gave a shrug, “Well so long as it doesn’t stop you from fighting. Let’s get back on track. By the way, the Fallen have been busy digging up things. You might find some supplies around here.”

“Maybe a helmet, that would be nice.” Cid muttered before turning his attention back to Devrim, “Alright, see you in a few minutes.”

As they climbed back down to the ground floor Cid stopped for a moment and looked up at a sigil on the wall. He didn’t notice it when he first walked in, but now it stood out like a sore thumb and started to bother him.

“What is it?” Gale asked, looking up at the sigil she had never seen before.

“A House of Judgement sigil. These Fallen were under queen Mara Sov Along with the House of Wolves. She was their kell.”

“She was the Queen of the Reef, right?” Alexander’s ghost asked.

“Yes, which begs the question, why is this here and written as what seems to be a threat?”

Gale chewed her lower lip a little. Mara Sov. She knew who that woman was, yet at the same time didn’t. She was most certainly not ‘sister,’ she knew that for sure. The name Mara Sov though brought forth many questions she hoped to find answers for, but hardly had the time to look let alone ask. 

Who was she? What was she? Who was her sister?

“We can worry about it later. Once we retake the city we can start finding out why this is here.” Alexander’s Ghost spoke for his Guardian, knocking Gale out of her thoughts.

“Yeah, I can agree to that.” Cid nodded. They spent the next few hours or so beating back the Fallen out of the area and scavenging for equipment and munitions. They each found a helmet for themselves and armor that could replace their shredded and destroyed pieces. It didn’t fit quite right, and it looked a bit funny, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. It was much better than running around in just a thermal suit.

“How’s it going Devrim?” Ghost asked as it quickly became dark.

“Quite well actually! Now that I don’t have the Fallen breathing on my neck I’ve finished the tower and I have a booster ready to go. Hawthorne also just told me that she’s out here now and instead of going through the mines she went around the Fallen mess to where we’re going to set it up. Isn’t that nice of her?” Devrim’s sarcasm could clearly be heard in his last sentence.

“Yeah yeah, like I’m going to go through all that noise. You know I can’t get to you right now Devrim, buuuut our Guardian friends can.” Hawthorne chided.

“Ah Suraya, you never cease to amaze me. Well, head back to the tower Guardians and we’ll get this under way.”

“We’re on our way then.” Ghost piped up, “Sounds like we got our hands full.”

“Heh, what else is new?” Cid chuckled dryly.

It didn’t take long to get back to the church tower. Devrim seemed to be in a much better mood now, and even had a cup of tea in his hands. It was easy to be in a better mood when you weren’t being shot at of course, but that was besides the point.

“Good work out there folks! Sorry I’ve seemed to have drank all the tea.”

“It’s ok, I don’t think any of us are tea drinkers.” Gale replied.

“Scandalous! Well, that aside,” he knelt down and picked up the beacon he just put together and handed it to Alexander, “we best not keep Suraya waiting. I’m sure you’ve noticed by now she’s quite impatient.”

All of them glanced up at a sound of a small explosion. It was clear the Fallen were already trying to move back into the area they had been clearing out. They looked at each other and collectively heaved out a sigh. They were like cockroaches, just kept coming back.

“We’re better off not trying to fly and run the risk of them shooting us down, especially if they’re going to start bringing in those salvaged ships of theirs.” Cid mused.

“Sounds like you’ll need to start walking. Head through the salt mines, there should be a way up through there.” Devrim instructed.

“How do you know that?” Ghost asked as Alexander tilted his head.

“I don’t, but it’s a place to start. That mine goes through the whole Cliffside, and I’m willing to bet it goes right to where Suraya is.”

“Fair enough.” Alexander shrugged while his Ghost talked.

* * * *

“Hey Dev, any chance that you’ve finally sent our Guardian friends on their way?”

Of all the things they really wanted to listen to while running through a salt mine infested with Fallen, Devrim and Hawthorne banter wasn’t really high up on the list. Admittedly it was entertaining, but when you were trying not to get killed by the Mauraders, the exploding Shanks, the Dregs, the Captains, among exploding barrels that they placed, it was just a huge distraction.

“Yes I have, and I’m sure they’re quite busy Suraya. I’m getting too old to be chasing after you.”

“Hah! He admits he’s old! Man, bail me out on one assault charge and you never let me live it down.”

“Ah don’t you mean one a week? You’re the reason my hair is grey.”

“Guys please, they’re trying to kill us.” Ghost finally piped up. That managed to stop the chatter long enough to clear out the room. The entire place reeked of rust and decay. Old mining equipment was reduced to skeletons, metal platforms were on the verge of collapse. If it weren’t for their helmets, they would’ve been inhaling a number of toxins just from being in there.

There was a metal gate at the end of the room along with an elevator on the left. Both were corroded and barely holding together. Alexander was sure it wouldn’t take much for him to bust down the gate. The elevator also wasn’t at the bottom of the shaft, which had some dangerous implications, especially if the Fallen hadn’t been working on it.

“I don’t suppose we can just take the easy way up.” Cid asked raising a brow. Alexander shrugged and pressed the button to call the elevator downwards. They stood back, and as they figured would happen, the cables finally snapped from the movement and it came crashing down at the bottom in a twisted heap of metal and dust.

“Huh, guess not.” Ghost sighed.

“Well, that would’ve been too easy.” Gale folded her arms, “I guess we’re going the long way.”

“What was that noise?” Hawthorne’s voice called through Ghost.

“Oh, just more old things breaking. Might be a bit longer getting up to you.” Cid replied. Alexander walked over to the gate and tried to press the button to open it. It responded with creaking slightly up and getting stuck.

“You’re not supposed to be breaking things.”

“These old things don’t need help to break.” As soon as Cid said that he heard the sound of more rotted metal breaking. When he, Ghost, and Gale glanced over to the sound, it seemed that Alex had already busted a hole through the gate. “I rest my case.”

Further in through the crumbing tunnels and more Fallen they jumped down a gap that lead into another dark room. The ghosts were all out lighting the way forward to an elevator that was in the down position. It seemed that the Fallen had been busy with this one, as they got closer they could see cables had been oiled and replaced and some of the metal pieces were in the works of being replaced. It meant of course that they were using it for something or other, but there was one problem.

“Power’s out to this as well…” Cid sighed as he pressed the button to open the elevator for them. They all glanced up at a sound and turned to see Fallen were already crawling into the place along with their Servitors.

“What are those?” Ghost asked while his Guardian pointed at the round floating machine.

“They’re the things keeping the Fallen going. Servitors, Ether gatherers. They also mess with power sources somehow or another. We take those out and we might have a working elevator.” Cid explained as the three of them scattered behind cover.

“How does that work?” Ghost yelled back as they all started shooting.

“I have no damn clue! Contrary to popular belief, I don’t know everything!”

There seemed to be two servitors in total. The first one that floated through the passage went down easily, but the second was guarded by some extra armour and very persistent Fallen. Between the three of them, it still was difficult to get at it especially as the Fallen crowded around the machine.

“Oh for Traveler’s sake!” Gale muttered and climbed up over the rock she had been taking shelter behind. Before they even knew what hit them, a Novabomb went flying down at them and crashed, leaving nothing behind. As soon as she did that, the lights instantly came on inside the complex.

“Ok, what was that noise?” Hawthorne called through their ghosts, “I know that wasn’t just things breaking.”

“Oh that’s just Gale obliterating a lot of Fallen with a Novabomb.” Winter told her as the three of them grouped back together.

“Wait… the nurse just made a huge explosion that killed everything? That sounded big from up here. You sure you’re a nurse?”

Gale smiled a little under her helmet, “Part time.”

“Well… huh. Ok. Well I hope it means my booster is well on the way now.”

“Yes Hawthorne, yes it is.” Charon sighed, getting a small chuckle from his guardian.

Alexander pressed the button to open the elevator. Once they were inside and moving, already more Fallen were running through the room trying to get to them. They were already well on their way up, and every time they sent one of those Sharks after them, Cid just shot it down. It wasn’t long before they reached daylight, and were they ever grateful when they did. The sun was rising over the horizon, and they were all tired from fighting their way through all of that.

“Hawthorne, we’re out of the mines and on our way to you.” Ghost called her

“Then hurry up with that booster. Let’s finish hooking up that comm network.” There was a pause, “And uh… thanks. You guys aren’t so bad… for fancy pants Guardians.”

“Now that’s the nicest thing I’ve heard Suraya say!” Devrim now spoke, “You’re in rarefied air my friends!”

Gale let out a small laugh, reaching up and taking her helmet off now that the danger was over and passed it to Winter. The men followed suit and Ghost transmatted the booster chip into Alexander’s hand. Carrying their helmets under their arms it was a short walk to the woman in the poncho standing next to the radio set up. She turned to them with the first smile any of them had seen from her.

“Well, well, well, you three made it!” she called to them. Alexnder gave her a smile and handed her the booster, “Looks like Louis owes me money.”

“Wait, you made a bet with your bird?” Gale asked, tilting her head a little.

“Yep, and I usually win.” Hawthorne then placed the booster into the slot of her rather large radio and started to type things in, “Now if I read the manual right…” she paused and frowned, “…there’s an incoming beacon?”

They all looked at each other confused. Hawthorne pressed a key or two and the message began to play in a very familiar voice.

“Guardians, the city is lost. If there is any Light left in the System, we rally on Titan. Be brave.”

“Zavala’s alive!” Winter chirped. Everyone seemed to perk up from the news, everyone but Hawthorne. She didn’t exactly welcome the news. Sure it was great and all, but if he was alive, why did he abandon all of these people that needed him?

“If we leave now guys, we can…” Ghost started to translate but the slamming sound of Hawthorne closing the screen stopped them.

“You are not going to Titan. None of you.” She scowled at the three of them and started to close the gap between them, “We’ve got refugees coming in, the Cabal on one side the Fallen on the other!”

“We have the light back though! If we’re going to retake the city at least…!” It was difficult to translate as fast as Alexander was talking now, especially as the big Titan was getting defensive.

“YOUR CITY, IS GONE!” Hawthorne suddenly bellowed, silencing him for a moment. The two Warlocks looked at each other, deciding whether or not to speak up or what to say if they did.

“Hawthorne, at least one of us needs to go. We need numbers. Let it be me then. Gale can stay here and help the injured, Cid can better protect the camp than I can, and the girls can work Salvage and scouting missions to better supply the farm. If anything, I’ll take Red with me just as an extra gun, but you’ll still have 4 experienced fighters defending the camp. If anyone can keep it safe, it’s these people.”

Hawthorne was still visibly angry with him, but it wasn’t like he wasn’t being reasonable. She turned around, grabbing her sniper, and started to walk off, “Fine, but you better not die out there.”

“We will be back.” There was conviction in his voice, even in Alexander’s beeps, “And we won’t be alone.”

“You know where to find me.” She growled back at him. Once she was out of earshot, then the Ghost and Guardian let out a sigh.

“That could’ve gone better.” Ghost sighed.

“I’d say you handled that better than I would’ve.” Cid raised his brows, clearly impressed.

“Alex, are you sure about this?” Gale asked clearly looking worried, “You haven’t been off planet before, have you?”

“No, but someone needs to do this. It might as well be me. You need to stay here with the injured, and Cid will be a lot better at keeping those people safe than I would be. Sarah and Ash need to stay here and keep an eye on things. And Red well… he’s Red, but we can use another body to be at our side out there. And honestly I don’t trust him not to punch a few holes in the barns while we’re gone. We can do this Gale, I’m sure we can.” It took a while for Ghost to translate that speech just like the last one, but he did his best.

Gale sighed a little, “I know. I know you can. Doesn’t mean I don’t worry.”

Cid folded his arms, clearly in thought, “Alex… I can’t remember for the life of me which moon is Titan, but something about that is really rubbing me the wrong way. Like, something awful might be there. I can go instead, I know you can protect these people as well, don’t sell yourself short.”

“I… I need to do this. Look I can’t explain it, but I just need to do this. Trust me.” Ghost seemed a little worried after he translated that. What was going through Alexander’s mind right now?

The Warlocks looked at each other and then gave him a nod, “Alright, lets head back to the farm and get you ready to go.” Gale smiled a little.

Even as they started to make their way back, Cid still wondered why it felt like a bad idea to go to Titan. He knew it was a moon of sorts, but he couldn’t remember which planet the moon belonged to. Either way, someone had to go, and it was clear Alexander was set in his mind that he had to.


	9. Titan's Titans being Titans

    “THERE YOU ARE!”

    When they returned to the farm to catch up with the hunters and get in some sleep, they were met with Red’s ghost shrieking at the top of her voicebox. This was honestly the last thing all three of them wanted to listen to, considering their exhaustion and the last conversation they had with Hawthorne, but clearly the ghost wasn’t having any of it.

    “DID RED STOW AWAY WITH YOU? I TURNED AROUND FOR ONE MINUTE AD THE NEXT HE’S GONE!”

    “N…no?” Ghost nervously replied. Alexander then spoke up to try and save the situation, “Alex says he can sense him somewhere around here though. Just uh, give us a minute to find him.”

    “Ugh! Of all the people I could’ve rezzed, it had to be this dolt!” The ghost groaned out. Seeing as Alexander seemed to have it covered, Gale decided to check on what she had to look forward after she had a nap. She was so tired she was sure she couldn’t help much at the moment, but she could at least take a look at how many people already showed up.

    They already had begun to set up a tent which wasn’t much more than a tarp on some sticks. Sleeping bags were lying on the ground, and already three of them were filled. It seemed that another person with some medical experience was here already, which she was grateful for. He was kneeling over the person, checking their vitals and making sure they were stable. With how calm he was and the sureness, Gale felt a lot better now taking a nap then coming back to help when more people showed up.

  “Uh… miss Gale?” a familiar voice called from behind her. She turned around rather confused only to let out a screech at the top of her lungs and nearly falling on her behind. Yes she expected Red there because that was his voice she heard, but she did not expect the left side on his face to be cut right up and for him to be missing an eye. The other man in the tent looked up concerned and had a similar reaction.

    “Is it normal sometimes for me not to see out of my other eye?” he asked.

    “RED WHAT THE HELL?!” she shrieked at him grabbing his shoulders. At the same time Cid had also been wandering away from the ghost, trying to find a quiet spot to nap by himself. If it was possible to sleep standing up and walking he might have just done that honestly. As soon as that scream rang out into the air however, sleep was the last thing on his mind.

   His first knee jerk reaction was snapping his head to attention, realizing it was Gale screaming, and running as fast as he could into the tent, with his hands already on fire, ready to kill whoever or whatever was scaring her, or hurting her, or whatever was happening. His mind was already thinking of every possible, horrible thing that could be happening and wasn’t really noticing what was happening right in front of him.

    “WHO THE FUCK-?” he bellowed as soon as he burst through the opening. Gale could see the fire and knew exactly where this could go. The last thing she wanted was more injuries happening because of a misunderstanding.

   “CID NO DON’T-!” she shrieked, pushing Red aside with all her might and running to tackle him out of the room before he could do anything. It was a good thing, because he nearly threw a grenade inside to kill the ‘threat.’ She grabbed his waist and the momentum was enough to knock him over and onto the ground outside, taking her with him. The fire fizzled out when he lost his concentration and thankfully, no one was hurt.

    “Agh…” he groaned as he sat up. He could see Red’s ghost zooming into the tent to deal with her Guardian, but didn’t hear the yelling that the ghost gave him. Instead he was more occupied with the Awoken who was sitting on top of him and now grabbing his shoulders.

    “Cid! What’s gotten into you? You almost hurt the patients in there!” she shook him a little. By now they had drawn a small crowd, and Alexander tried to shoo them off as best as he could. (A difficult job when you were mute.)

    “Wait…” Cid seemed to finally get his bearings, “What just… why were you…?”

    “It’s alright Cid, breathe! Red just startled me, that’s all.”

    It took him a minute, but it finally dawned on him what he nearly just did. If Gale hadn’t been fast enough he might have just blown up the entire tent and everyone in it.

    “Oh… I… oh my…. holy shit I’m so sorry I…” He reached up and held his head with his rebuilt hand.

   “Listen, let’s just get you some rest ok?” She finally got off of him and helped him up, “You’re tired. And I can tell something has been bothering you all day.” She started to lead him into the barn where all the sleeping bags were, “Come on, everything will be fine…”

   Among the chaos somewhere, Stella watched on, frowning and folding her arms. The only kind of people that acted like that, were the troubled ones, the ones that have been through a hell that they never spoke of.

    Turns out, Red just had a tree branch take out his eye. Nothing more. Nothing his ghost couldn’t fix.

* * * *

 _Yes, good! You’re doing great hon!_  
But be wary, your friend is right  
A great Darkness lurks on Titan  
And it won’t be the last time they will affect you and those you care about

 _Be brave my dear_  
Let your light guide you  
Show them that you will stand down for no one  
You are far more than you seem

_* * * *_

    The nap had been needed. Once they woke up they were met with two very exhausted Hunters who just got back from scouting. They even brought back a package of coffee that Cid and other refugees very much welcomed, even if it was cheap and awful. They all gathered on the benches set up next to the largest barn in a circle, all of them clearly exhausted.

    “Well, that’s the best thing we got going for us.” Sarah sighed after they filled her in on everything that happened, “It’s bad in the city. There’s going to be no sneaking onto ships. The ships that do go to that command deck are guarded like the damn thing is made of gold.”

    “We did manage to get some trinkets like the coffee there, but not much else. We make any move on those assholes, we need to be ready for war. Now you know I like fighting as much as any crucible veteran, but this? Even I’m not sure if just the six of us can pull this off. They’ve got all sorts of weird nonsense set up already and I’m sure it’s all stuff that can kill us.” Ash added.

    “So our best bet is for Alex start bringing the Guardians back here and Zavala. Hopefully the Vanguard are with him.” Cid sat down on the bench beside Gale with the coffee he had been desperately needing.

    “He’s already taking off?” Sarah asked.

    “Soon as he woke up he grabbed all his things, got Red, and took off a few seconds before you go here.” Gale replied.

    “With any luck, this won’t take too horribly long.” Cid sighed as he took a sip of his coffee.

    “Where is Titan again?” Ash asked tilting her head, “I know it’s past the Asteroid belt.”

    “I think it’s a moon on one of the gas giants. Like Jupiter or Saturn…”

   As soon as Sarah said Saturn, Cid spat his coffee out. It finally dawned on him why he felt like going to Titan lightless was one of the worst ideas in the history of the Vanguard.

   “SON OF A- THAT’S WHY!” He shouted.

  “Wait, what? I don’t get it.” Ash tilted her head.

   “Saturn! It’s a moon of Saturn! The Dreadnaught is at Saturn! The Dreadnaught is—was—Oryx’s ship. Which means that it was full of Hive, probably still is because the damn thing is a huge magical piece of crap. Hive breed very fast, which means that most likely, Titan is infested with the damn things!”

    They all looked at each other completely mortified. They knew by now Alex was long gone and there was no way to warn him of the danger. Not to mention he took Red of all people with him.

    “They can do this.” Gale immediately spoke up, “I know they can. Look, Red’s an idiot yes, but Alex will keep him in line.”

   “I should go after them.” Cid started to stand up.

   “I’m going to have to vote against you on that. We’ve already got two Guardians off planet, we don’t need another one. We’ve got a lot of people who don’t know how to use a gun and a pissed off Hawthorne breathing on our necks already.” Sarah scowled, “That guy’s full of surprises Cid. I have a feeling he can pull this one off.”

   “And after that last stunt, I think I’d rather you here.” Gale frowned at him and folded her arms. Cid let out a sigh. He still felt awful for that whole mix up. The two hunters looked at each other confused, but both decided not to ask, at least not at the moment.

  “We’ll give them a couple days. They don’t radio us back, we’re going after them.” Sarah suggested. They all could agree with that.

   “Why though?” Cid groaned out, “Why the fuck did Zavala think this was a good idea? Traveler I swear if anyone gets killed because of this I’m going to strangle him.”

* * * *

    “Alex… I need to ask you something.”

    It was a thrill for Alexander to finally leave the planet and put the craft into hyper drive. Now that he and Red were both here however, it felt it almost calming, sobering to watch the stars around him. It was a good reminder that the world was much bigger than he was, and he was just scratching the surface of it.

   He tilted his head in response to his Ghost’s question, “I’m going to be honest, you’re starting to worry me. You mumble things in your sleep that I can’t make out, and you’ve been on about gut feelings and such. Is… is everything ok?”

    Alexander mused for a moment before telling him about the dreams he had been having.

    “A woman? She says she was your wife back in your last life? And giving advice… this is really weird. I mean, I guess we all get visions now because… Traveler I guess? I don’t know, but this one is just for you. Then what did she mean by ‘favourite lake’? The lake I rezzed you by?”

    Alexander shook his head.

  “Whatever this is… I just hope it’s being honest and really trying to help you.” Ghost nudged against Alexander’s cheek to try and comfort him a little. A light came on the dashboard as they dropped out of hyperspace. He could see the ocean of a planet and Red’s ship close by. He shoved it into another gear and dove into the atmosphere, Ghost giving directions towards the source of the beacon. Across the methane seas through the raging storm Ghost called out in hopes of an answer as they came closer to the wreckage an old Golden Age facility.

  “Vanguard Ship! Guardian Ship 723 and 801 in approach. We’ve received your beacon and are here to help!” Ghost chirped as the two of them found a landing spot on the old creaking wreck.

  “Guardian Ship, this is Zavala.” A familiar voice came through him as Alexander turned the engine off, “It’s too late. The Hive have overrun Titan. I was wrong to bring us here.”

  Alexander felt himself stop for a minute. So this was what the woman was warning him about. This was what was bothering Cid. He’s heard enough about the Hive to know that they were probably the most twisted and evil things in existence. They fed on chaos, revelled in other’s pain, destroyed whatever they could get their hands on. The beings that caused the Great Disaster were right here on this very moon.

    Too late, Zavala had said.

     _Like hell it is._

    He opened up the hatch and saw Red waiting there for him, confused as to why he took so long. He was starting to regret his choice in comrades, but there wasn’t much point in turning back now. As far as Alex was concerned, if Red could survive this, he could survive just about anything. Still, it might have been a better idea to bring the Veteran who had dealt with this multiple times.

    “So, this is probably really bad, huh?” Red asked.

    “Think of it this way, if we can pull this stunt off, whatever we have to do, I’d say you’re fully qualified to be a Guardian.” Ghost translated.

    “Really? Yeah! I’ll show these Hive not to mess with us!” Red put his hands on his hips in a triumphant way. Alexander sighed a little.

    “Just follow my lead ok? These things are the worst of the worst, and I don’t want anything happening to you.”

    “Sure thing Captain!”

    Alexander tilted his head at the title.

    “What? You’ve been leading this so far. Doesn’t that make you a Captain? Or maybe it makes you a leader… or…”

    “You know what, it’s fine! Let’s just give these guys a hand.” Ghost then spoke directly through the radio, “Commander! We’re here to help!”

    “No!” Zavala’s voice boomed through, “We’ve lost too many lightless Guardians to the Hive! We can’t secure this moon!”

    “ _We_ , have our light back.”

    “What…? Impossible…!”

    “Commander, if I may?” Another voice, a female voice, sounded through the radio now. Neither Titan knew this voice until now. “Guardians this is Deputy Commander Sloane. We have a counter offensive planned, but to do that we need to get this station up and running. There’s a fleet to fix, Guardians to equip, and a trove of Red Legion transmissions to decrypt. It’s critical we gain access to the station’s control center. That’s where you come in. If the Light is really with you, send the Hive back to hell.”

    “You got it. Give us a couple hours.”

    The two of them looked at each other and gave a nod. Alexander put his ghost away for safety sake. They could feel the storm and the waves rock the steel they stood on, and could feel the oozing darkness from the Hive inside.

    This wasn’t going to be easy.

    As they leaped over a crumbled bridge onto the next platform they watched as a shipping container finally gave way to the weather and slid into the ocean. Alexander reached out to the side to keep Red from charging off on his own and potentially falling in. The entire structure seemed to creak and groan against the weather that constantly battered it. At the same time it wasn’t like they really had time to figure out a better plan, so they would just have to deal with it.

    The platforms turned into what seemed to be catwalks for maintenance, but time had not been kind to them. Parts of it had been ripped off and made the walk even more perilous. It was a dangerous game to lift over the gaps and hope that what was left wouldn’t collapse beneath the weight of a fully grown man who was the mass of a foot ball player, and a large EXO. Even when they were supported by piping, every time they stepped on one, the creaking and groaning made Alexander nervous. If they were to fall in…

  Around the steel pillar Alexander froze for a moment as he peered inside. Past a wall of pulsing flesh he could see that the Hive made a huge mess of the place. Something—he certainly didn’t know what it was—was growing out of the walls and the ceiling. Worm carcasses, the larvae still moving in the mounds, the sickening sound of something slithering about that made his skin crawl. Something yellow like pus seemed to ooze out of everything, making everything smell strongly of decay, and making Alexander grateful that he was incapable of throwing up. Just to add the cherry on top, he could see things glowing an eerie green inside, and he didn’t have a single clue as to what it was.

  “Stay. Behind. Me.” Alexander felt the need to summon Ghost just to reaffirm that.

   He could’ve sworn when they finally stepped in that he could hear something crawling on the steel and the decaying matter. Lifting himself up to the closest exit simply trying to get out of there, he could hear the familiar sound of Ghost coming out of transmat, seemingly curious about the structure they were making their way through.

    “So, what was this place?” Ghost asked.

    “The Golden Age Cities of Titan were once the pride of humanity. We thought they were abandoned, but I was a fool to think they would not spread this far.” Zavala explained.

    “Hey Alex, why is there a big hole in the rings?” Red asked and pointed to the neighbouring planet in question. He was right, Saturn had a huge hole blown in its rings, and something rested there, never able to move again. It was quite visible even from this distance. Alex then remembered something Cid had mentioned once.

_The Awoken stopped the Dreadnaught before it could get past Saturn…_

    He let out a groan and covered his face with his hand. Why did Zavala of all people think this was a good idea? If the mother ship of the Hive was in close range to any moon or planet, why did he think it would be safe? At all?

    “You still didn’t answer my question.”

    “Um… long story. Don’t worry about it.” Ghost chirped. He didn’t exactly know what his Guardian was thinking, but they really couldn’t think on this long. They had a job to do.

    Carefully along the railings that threatened to fall into the ocean, they did finally come to what seemed to be the start of the ‘city’ that hadn’t fallen into the methane sea yet. The Hive had also been here, and as soon as Alexander walked inside he could feel a squish of something under his boot.

    “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” Ghost piped up.

_So do I Ghost… so do I…_

    The guns came out, the safeties were off, and both ghosts were lighting the way in the darkness. Up the creaking stairs past the nasty mounds they turned to the left and heard a shriek they never heard before. Ghost lit up the first Thrall either of them would see. Its body seemed to be made of some sort of exoskeleton that was twisted into a humanoid form. It opened its mouth, screeching louder than its small body should be able to, alerting everything else around it, and came charging at both of them with its claws. They were easy enough to gun down, sure, but Alex counted themselves lucky that there were not more of them.

    Through the pools of water, the dripping of the pipes, the sound of scratching, screeching, the darkness, they walked as quietly as possible. Alexander could tell Red was itching to put his fist into some of the Hive, but if they were not careful, they would surely be overrun. Cid’s warnings about the Hive being able to kill them regardless if they had the light or not was at the forefront of his mind, even when they finally got back to the outside railings and away from the twisted insides.

    As they climbed the broken railings and stairs through the constant storm, they could see a building with satellites and radio towers. It seemed important, and was most likely the building they were going for.

    “Alright, we can see the command center. We’re almost there.” Ghost radioed to the waiting team.

    “Copy that. Keep pushing forward.” There was a pause as she seemed to be speaking to Zavala now, forgetting her radio was still on, “Commander, at this rate we can start planning our counter offensive. We’ll be at the city gates in no time!”

    “Hm… if only it were that simple.” Zavala mused. On that point, Alexander could certainly agree. It was never simple.

    Back inside into the mess the Hive made, they could see the next step in the Hive chain. Acolytes now peered at them with their three glowing beady eyes. In their hands were weapons, guns of sorts now, and their maws were agape as they let out sounds similar to raspy breathing, but louder, more grating on the ears.

    Up the stairs, through the fan, back into the storm, shooting everything in their way that moved, the two of them pressed forward. The Thralls were also out here, clawing at them at every chance they got. A fist of lightning met their jaws and tore apart their exoskeletons when they got too close. That was not to say that neither of them were hurt in this, indeed they were. It was just that Alexander was good at ignoring pain, and Red was an expert in that field.

    Once you let pain stop you, then the enemy can destroy you.

    Up they went, back into the festering halls. They stumbled upon a summoning circle, and even though they took the Acolytes and the Thralls by surprise, it still managed to bring for the next step in the chain, a Knight. It towered over the Titans, far more armoured than its smaller counterparts.  They were able to kill it, yes, but of course when there was more than one they start to become a problem.

    They hadn’t even met the Wizards, the sub-species that the Witch was a part of.

    Honestly Alexander was surprised that they hadn’t ran into more trouble than they already had. He expected much more of a resistance from the Hive. He supposed that could’ve been down to many reasons, but he didn’t really have time to think about them. His focus was then turned to Ghost when they were in the clear, trying to climb up through a tube that would get them onto the command deck.

    “It looked like the Hive were performing some kind of ritual.” Ghost chirped up. Alexander beeped something out or other and the ghost shook its body like a person would shake their head, “No, I think it was more than a summoning circle. We should ask Ikora. She knows all there is about Hive magic.”

   “No one has seen Ikora or Cayde…” Zavala’s voice suddenly came through, “since the city fell…”

     _Not good_. Alexander immediately thought. This was not the time for the leadership to be apart. He could only assume they got separated in the mess that was the evacuation and now something prevented them from finding each other. At this point however, where could any of them had gone? He didn’t know either Vanguard well enough to have a clue as to where to start looking. He hoped Zavala would have some idea, otherwise they were in trouble.

    Up the tube and turning right they were finally on the right platform. They could see it was the same building they were looking at earlier, and they could hear the sound of the Hive crawling about.

   “Ok Red.” Ghost started to translate, “We have to clear this area out. Rules are: do not fall into the ocean, do not try to punch or head butt the walls, do not try to fight anything that has a big scary ritual circle near it unless I say so, and do not die.”

   “Yes! Finally!” he then charged off before Alex could stop him into the incoming Hive, screaming at the top of his lungs.

    “DAMN IT RED!” Both Ghost and Guardian yelled at the same time (one in distressed beeps of course.) He raced after the Striker, shooting anything the man missed in his haste to clear them all out. It wasn’t the easiest to do in the storm and with all the Thrall clawing at him, but he did keep them off of his reckless partner. Through the shipping crates and abandoned supplies they cut through everything in their way. The more Hive they struck down, the better Alexander felt about being in this place in general. So long as they struck quickly and didn’t get overwhelmed, they weren’t too much trouble.

    Though it was still a bad idea to rush headfirst into them.

    Red finally came to a stop in front of a doorway blocked by something or other. When he finally caught up, Alexander peered inside to see that the entire room was filled with yellow egg sacs, and that was what was blocking their way forward. He gently pushed Red out of the way and shot one, resulting in a small explosion of yellow thick fluid that reeked of decay.

   “Ew…” Ghost shuddered and started to radio to Zavala, “I think we’re in some sort of Hive breeding ground and it’s super gross.”

    “Take. It. Out.” Zavala growled. The three of them looked at each other and didn’t hesitate any more to go inside and shoot the patrolling thralls and more of those egg sacs. They would rather do that than to hear Zavala speak in that tone ever again. The more sacs they shot, the more the Hive seemed to crawl out of the walls and the mounds. More than once the boys had to stop shooting and put their fist into the incoming Thralls and Acolytes. By the time they were done there were a lot of bodies and a lot of yellow pus everywhere. Once again, Alexander was quite happy he wasn’t able to throw up, because all of this was making him sick. It was strange however, the Red seemed unaffected by any of this. How did he do it?

   “Ok Sloane,” Ghost radioed on his own, seeing his Guardian leaning against one of the few clean walls trying to overcome the nausea, “We’ve cleared out the nest and we’re heading up to the control center.”

    “Well done. Sweep the perimeter and we’ll move in on your signal. How’s your Guardian holding up? Heard that you two are newbies.”

    “Uh…” Ghost looked over to Alexander who was being patted on the back by Red. He didn’t need to see his Guardian’s face to know that he felt miserable, “He’s fine. It’s just the Hive are gross and Red keeps giving him a heart attack.”

    A small chuckle came through the radio, “I remember that being me. Eyes up Guardian, you’re almost there.”

    Alexander took a deep breath and stood up straight, finally getting his bearings together. It made him feel a bit better that he wasn’t the only one that found it all revolting.  He supposed he would get used to it, but getting used to something like this would take time. Through the next door they were outside again. The Hive were still crawling everywhere, but he would happily deal with them in a storm rather than that mess back there.

    It only took them a few more minutes, and every Hive on that deck was downed by the two men. They circled the place a few times to make sure there was no more around, then radioed Sloane that it was safe for them all to move in.

    “Copy that. Zavala and I are inbound. Get up here and take a bow you two.”

    The two of them looked up to see the ships come out of the storm and begin to descend onto the platform. There were not many of them, 50 at most, but they all carried as many people as they could fit inside them. They then began to climb up to the landing site where the first ships would unload their people and begin their work. As soon as they got there, Zavala and Sloane were already waiting for them. Sloane gave them a smile and salute as she ran past them into the building to begin assessing what sort of shape it was in. The three of them turned their attention to Zavala, who was studying them both carefully.

    “I didn’t dare to believe…” Zavala started as he wandered over to them. His face seemed worn down and weary from all of this. Alexander couldn’t blame him, “if the light can find its way back to you… then perhaps there is hope for us after all…”

   “Not just us commander.” Ghost spoke up, “Four more back at the EDZ managed to get their light back. Cid, Gale, Sarah, Ash, they did as well. They’re at the refugee camp down there right now.” His Guardian spoke up and Ghost quickly translated, “We still have a chance to turn things around commander. This is not over.”

  Zavala smiled, even if only a little, “Funny… those sorts of words are things I should be saying to you, Alexander. It also seems I’ve underestimated Red as well.”

   “Well uh…” Ghost started to say as he looked at his Guardian who gave a shrug, “I mean, I wouldn’t let him run solo, but he did great with us.”

    “Wait, does this mean I’m a full fledged Guardian now?” Red asked with a tilt of his head. He hadn’t actually been paying attention until then.

    “Uh… we’ll get to that.” Ghost translated.

    Zavala ignored the banter and turned towards the skies behind him, “Alexander.” He started, grabbing his attention, “Our numbers will continue to dwindle. We can no longer protect ourselves, much less the survivors.” There was a long pause, “And without the light… are we even Guardians anymore?”

    Alexander didn’t have an answer for that. For all of this second life, he had lived with this Light. It was terrifying having it taken away. It felt like a part of him had been ripped out of his body. When he got the Light back, he felt whole again. He felt like he was himself again. He could imagine the empty feeling gnawing away at so many lightless guardians…

    Yet, there were so many people who lived without it, like Hawthorne, who still fought on.

    “Commander.” Ghost finally piped up to break everyone out of their thoughts. The Awoken turned back towards his Titans, standing at attention, ready or whatever he could throw at them. He took a deep breath, and began to speak, placing his hands behind his back.

    “We won’t last long with dead Generators. Wave powered generators worked to power this place, but thanks to the Hive, they are in need of… attention.”

    “We can take care of it.” Ghost chirped.

    “Yes… I believe you can.”

* * * *

    “Alright Guardian we’re not out of the woods yet. We still need to power up this place. Commander Zavala told me you boys volunteered. I’ll run tactical, and shipwright Holiday here will be our Tech support. It’s a simple op, get in, flip the switch, and get out.” Those were Sloane’s instructions as they made their way towards the generators.

   “Heh, Sloane’s got a way of making everything sound easy, doesn’t she?” Amanda’s voice piped through.

    “Oh, it’s never easy. We know that.” Ghost chirped back.

    “Heh, for real though. Hey Alex… I’m… I’m glad to see you on this side of the dirt.” Amanda managed to stutter out.

    “I’m glad you are too. You had us worried back there.” Ghost translated.

    “You? Were worried about me? Even though you were staring death in the face?”

    “We were worried about everyone, including you. We thought you might have gotten shot down.”

    “Heh… you’re a real sweetheart. Did you know that?”

    Alexander felt a burning on his cheeks that he couldn’t quite explain. He had forgotten what blushing was.

    The Rig next door to the Command center they called ‘Siren’s Watch’ held the same creak and groan under the storm. What surprised Alexander though, was that it was not filled with Hive, but with Fallen instead. He was much less worried about fighting them than the Hive, but it still begged the question…

  “Uh… did we lead the Fallen here?” Ghost asked as the two Guardians began to shoot the crowd down.

  “No, those vultures have been following us since we evacuated.” Sloane sighed.

  “Ah, well that makes me feel a bit better…” Ghost looked up and noticed that the Hive were also actively trying to kill the Fallen, “Is it too much to hope that the Hive and the Fallen will just kill each other?”

    “Yes, yes it is.”

    “Aw…”

    The battle however did help them get through the Rig faster than just fighting all of them. By the time the Guardians got there, it was clear the Hive dominated the area, and the Fallen were just trying to sneak in and overwhelm them.

    “Guys, the Hive have infected just about everything. Red and Alex can cut through but…” Ghost reported while hiding behind a wall as his Guardian fought.

    “Copy that.” Sloane replied, “Amanda we have to get you back into the air. We need ongoing aerial reports if we’re going to keep our perimeter secure.”

    “Oh… uh…” Amanda sounded nervous at the idea, “You know my ship took a beating in the evacuation.”

    “I’ll bump you to the front of the line for repairs once the lights are on.”

    “Great… great…”

    As she nervously said those words, the two of Guardians broke through the ranks and into the power room where there was more fighting. Ghost did feel a little bad, it made sense why Amanda would be hesitant to go back into the air again after all of that, but he couldn’t think on that now. He had to stay with Alex. So he followed them inside and transmatted himself back into safety.

    Even here the Fallen managed to find ways to crawl in and cause trouble. While made it easier to fight both parties, it also meant that there was more in there. This time he let Red charge ahead and clear out everything that was in the way and he cleaned up the rest. It was faster this way, even though he was now beginning to regret that decision as he felt the foundation shake beneath the Titan’s force.

    Once the last body hit the floor, Alex went through to the last some and could see the looming buildings outside. The there were sever towers in total, one in the middle that was different from the rest, and it didn’t seem possible to get to most of them without flying in. He then noticed an old control panel next to where Red was standing that was most likely the switch they were after. Instead of asking, he reached over and pulled it down himself. They felt a shudder as some of the pistons started to move and give power, and then a shake as two of them suddenly came to a stop and the LED display on the panel lit up with two problematic pistons.

    “Oh, that’s not good.” Ghost chirped as he transmatted himself out of safety once more.

    “What happened?” Sloane asked in a chiding tone.

    “It seems that some of the pistons are stuck.”

    “Sorry pal,” Amanda sighed, “But you’re gonna have to go in there and rig a work around.”

    The three of them looked at each other. Did these guys really think they had any clue about this sort of stuff? If Alexander did once, that knowledge was lost to time, and of course, Red was Red.

  Alex turned and noticed one of the door opened up. He waved Red over to follow him as he peered through the door and noticed that the floor was lined with Fallen explosives. It seemed they already had gotten ahead of them in their assault on this place and didn’t want anyone following them.

  “I got this!” Red suddenly shouted and ran past Alexander, setting of each and every one of them and just barely outrunning the explosions. Alexander found himself standing there for a moment before shaking his head and tearing after the reckless Titan who ran straight into a group of Fallen with his Ghost zipping behind him. Clearing them out wasn’t a big deal, but what was a big deal was the next room that was lined with even more explosions.

   “Hey! Watch this!” Red shouted as he started to run towards it.

   “RED NO DON’T-!” both Guardian and Ghost bellowed before all of them exploded, and Red’s Ghost was saying ‘Guardian down.’ The two heaved a sigh and walked over as he was resurrected. Alexander felt small pang in his chest, but he was too overcome with second-hand embarassment to notice it.

    “Aww, I almost had it.” Red grumbled. Alexander covered his face with his hands, and started to beep out the thing that was also on Ghost’s mind.

    “Why… why are you like this?” he translated.

    “Because he’s an idiot, and DOESN’T LISTEN TO ME!” Red’s ghost bellowed at him, and was ignored as usual.

    “Well you better start listening, because if you do that again I swear to the Traveler I will throw you into the ocean. This is not like training! These things can kill us. The Hive can kill us permanently! I don’t know what kind of world you’re living in now, but you best get out of it and realize that there’s way too much at stake to do things like this!” Ghost had a hard time translating that speech, but he did his best. Unfortunately it seemed to just go in through one ear, and out the other. They both heaved a sigh.

    “Do you know how long I’ve been trying to tell him this?” Red’s Ghost sighed as she transmatted herself away.

    “Let’s just… let’s keep moving.” Ghost sighed.

    They ran out of the room across the crumbling bridges, clearing out waves of Fallen and Hive as they went. It was easy when they were too busy killing each other to pay attention to the real threat. As they drew closer to the first tower, they all stopped dead in their tracks when an awful, terrible scream rang through the air.

   “What… was that…?” Ghost asked nervously. They looked all around and couldn’t see anything. There was no way to tell where it came from with the echo in the area. They looked at each other and decided to press on anyways. Time was ticking. They couldn’t afford to lose it.

    The bridge ended at what seemed to be the connecting platform to the six towers. All they had to get to the first one however was dilapidated pieces that were barely holding onto the structure. Alex hoped and prayed that it wouldn’t give out under his weight as he lifted himself to the first tower and slipped inside. He was even more grateful when Red didn’t fall in himself.

    Inside there was more Hive gunk as Alexander began to all it. It was easy to bash it out of the way to get up the stairs, but it quickly became apparent what was causing the issues. In the piston at the top, all of that black hard substance had clogged it all up.

    “Oh… found the problem guys. The Hive gunked up the pistons.” Ghost radioed over while the boys cleared it out. It didn’t take long before it was moving again, “Aaaaand there. How is it now?”

    “Hate to tell you this, but uh, we’re still in the dark.” Amanda called.

    “Looks like you have more scrubbing to do.” Sloane told them. The three of the found a way out and realized that the way to the next tower was even more perilous. Alexander crossed first and found his heart hammering out of his chest as he watched Red attempt to cross the large gaps with flimsy pieces bridging the entire thing. Never again he told himself. He was never taking Red with him on something like this, ever again.

    The second piston had the same issue. Again they cleared out all of the junk and got it moving again but they didn’t hear any good news.

    “Yeah uh, still no power.” Amanda sighed, “You might need to start messing with the circuit breakers.”

    “Try that platform in the middle. Everything seems to run to it.” Sloane instructed. As soon as Alexander and Red stepped foot back into the storm, the scream rang out a second time.

    “I have a really bad feeling about this….” Ghost floated a little closer to his Guardian, who had a similar premonition. They lifted themselves to the last platform, climbing their way up to the very top.  They could see another control panel on top covered in the same gunk, which was hopefully what they were after. They didn’t want to stick around any longer.

    They froze in place as that screech rang out a third time, louder, closer. A crack echoed in the air, and as Alexander looked up to the sound, he was taken aback by what was crawling through a tear it ripped in reality. This was much more intimidating than Ghaul. He was huge yes, but Alex could feel the power of Darkness radiating off of her. There was another crack as the hole sealed and the winds changed direction to circle all of them. A sick grin was over her face, looking down at the two Titans, laughing in her deep voice. It made her just that more terrifying. He felt his body wanting to cower and protect itself from the force of her magic, but like Ghaul, still look to her defiantly. Red on the other hand seemed to have finally lost his nerve as he looked all around at what was happening.

_AHAHAHAHA! IT’S BEEN SO LONG SINCE I’VE SEEN ONE OF YOUR KIND!_

    Her voice echoed in their skulls. Their hands instinctively lifted up and covered their ears, as she was unbearably loud. They hunched over, trying to drown her voice in their heads. Alexander realized quickly he wasn’t doing anything against it. Instead he snatched his Ghost and held him close to his body to try and protect him from any sort of magic she may use.

_Hm, you’re not the same Guardian…but his light touches you. Who then are you…?_

     Her voice was only marginally quieter as she spoke. She floated closer to them, reaching out to Alexander’s helmet to take it off, curious as to who he was. The Titan jumped back away from her. She merely cackled as she returned to shouting.

_DO ME A FAVOUR IF YOU LIVE WOULD YOU? SAY HELLO FOR ME. TELL HIM THE WITCH OF THE THORN, XYER, ISN’T DEAD!_

    “S-S-Sloane? Is it normal for these things to know English and be in our heads?” Ghost cried out. He had never been this terrified of another being before, but Xyer was something else. She was clear an ancient witch that had gained unspeakable powers, and could very easily use it on them.

   “No! It must be a high ranking Hive! A powerful one! Take her out! Ignore her!” Sloane commanded.

_HM, HOW CUTE. SORRY MY DEARS, I’M JUST HERE TO OBSERVE. I’M NOT GOING TO FIGHT YOU. I’M SAVING THAT FOR HIM. I’VE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO._

   She stretched her arms out to the side, summoning forth circles. From the sickly green glow, Hive of all shapes and sizes appeared.

_PLEASE BE A DEAR AND ENTERTAIN THE LOCALS! I’D LOVE TO SEE HOW YOU DESTROY THEM! PROVE TO ME AGAIN THAT GUARDIANS ARE A WORTHY RIVAL FOR US! I WANT TO SEE THAT BEAUTIFUL FIRE AGAIN!_

    Red finally looked up, seemingly having enough of this. He charged forward, sparks flying off of his body. He leaped up into the air and came down with two fists, trying to smash them into her head. It would do no good, as she vanished into thin air again, her laugh echoing in the storm.

   It took a moment to gather his bearings, but once he did, Alex ran into the fray after his reckless friend. He summoned forth his shield and tried to bash away anything that was getting too close, but he was quickly starting to become overrun by the sheer numbers. They crawled up the walls, seemed to come out of seemingly nowhere, and were now paying more attention to the frazzled Guarian than the one diving in without much thought.

  Another awful screech, and more wizards appeared. The two of them immediately got swarmed with projectiles from the three of them. Alex got in front of Red to shield him as best as he could, since he didn’t seem to be paying attention to the immediate danger and was more occupied with all of those Thralls and Acolytes, but the projectiles quickly broke what was left of his void shield and knocked him over. He let out loud beeps to try and grab Red’s attention as he tried to keep the swarming Hive off of him with little success. They clawed, pulled at his arms, reached for his neck to tear it open.

    Much to his surprise, his reckless partner did turn around and come to the rescue. He slid right in the middle of the crowd, scooped up his fallen friend and dashed behind cover as the magic projectiles started to fly again. The remaining Thrall of course started to chase after them, but Red was surprisingly well ready for it, taking out his gun and shooting while Ghost healed up his Guardian.

    “You ok?” Red called back.

    “He’s fine now! But don’t charge off again like that!” Ghost shouted as Alexander finally was able to take out his gun and join in on the firefight, focusing down the witches who kept shooting at them. It was a longer fight than they wanted since they were hiding behind an old shipping container the entire time, but the last body did eventually fall into the ocean, and there was silence.

    “Ok… both of you are fine, and no one died, and scary witch isn’t around. Good! Great!” Ghost seemed quite relieved as he floated up out of cover along with the two Guardians.

    “I didn’t like her. She was scary.” Red started to look around again, “And I couldn’t hit her with my fists.”

    “Speaking of which, Red, we could’ve avoided running into all that trouble if you didn’t charge off by yourself…” Ghost scolded as he floated closer to him.

    “Yeah I know, and I’m sorry.” Red rubbed the back of his head, “Guess I got kinda carried away.”

    Ghost was about to reply, but his Guardian spoke up first and he begun to translate instead, “You did. Learn from this ok? Next time take a look around and see what’s going on. And thank you Red. You saved my life there. You might have what it takes to be a Guardian if you keep this up so long as you learn.”

    Red’s hands went to the sides of his face, and Alex didn’t need to see it to know how his eyes were lit up.

    “Just uh, don’t let that get to your head. Let’s flip the switch and get out of here.”

    They would clear the gunk off of the panel and pull the lever down, bringing back power to the rest of the facility. The witch however left Alexander greatly troubled and worried for the Warlock. There was only one person she could’ve been talking about. Was he in some sort of trouble?

     From a distance that the boys could not see, the witch watched on, but she was not smiling. That had been a rather disappointing show, nothing like the beautiful show of force and light all those years ago. They did kill all the Hive, yes, but it seemed that these Guardians were not the same caliber as the one she took over.

_Hah, so this is humanity’s last hope? That’s rich. Pathetic little men, not able to guage the extent of their power. Ah well… I look forward to seeing what comes my Dear Savathun. It’s certainly interesting, no?_

    She then placed a claw finger in front of her and drew a line through the reality, slipping through back to her home world. In time she would become a threat, but the Hive and their Queens would simply watch for now. There was no need to get involved yet, not when Savathun was still so far away. They would simply watch the Red War destroy them all.


	10. A Lie, a Secret, and a Horrid Truth

   Now that they were back at the ‘base’, Alexander saw for the first time the number of lightless Guardians. They filled the lower room, about a hundred if not more, all of them scared of what the future was holding for them. As Alexander entered the room to try and get in a nap he felt all of their eyes on him. Some of them held respect for being able to get his light back and securing this place, but others were jealous. They held their shivering Ghosts that were struggling to function without the light, unsure if they could ever get the light back or not. To them however, of all the people that could’ve gotten it back, it had to be an idiot, and one they considered a child.

    Alexander couldn’t stand their gaze much longer. He instead pushed to get to the back of the dimly lit room where sleeping bags were being set up. Past a doorway he came to a hall with large windows looking outside, and three Guardians talking in private. Two hunters and a Titan, all seemed to be in grief. He started to wonder, just how many Guardians were lost to this war? How many of those people in the back room lost someone?

    “And hell….heard… Cid…” he caught one of them saying, which perked his head up a little. He looked at Ghost.

    “You thinking what I’m thinking?” Ghost asked before turning to the small group, “Hey uh, this Cid wouldn’t happen to be an EXO Warlock with black and gold right?” Ghost asked. The three of them suddenly straightened up and turned around to see him. The first hunter was an Awoken woman with long hair to match her Hunter cape, the second a hunter EXO with black and silver plates, and the Titan was a human with a number of scars from his previous life.

    “It might be, yes?” the EXO raised a shutter, “Why do you ask?

    “Because if it is, he’s alive and well! He’s in the EDZ, and he’s even gotten his light back!”

    Their faces all lit up, “That’s the best fucking news we’ve had since the start of this!” The Titan shouted with a huge smile.

   “I tooooold you that little feeling of light flaring up meant something!” The woman side eyed the two of them. The EXO rolled his eyes, but he was nonetheless thrilled to hear the news.

    “You must be Alex then, right? We’ve been hearing a hell of a lot about you lately and I think Cid mentioned you once. Paul-7.” The hunter stretched a hand out and Alex happily shook it.

    “Edna.” The Awoken woman reached over to shake Alexander’s hand, “Thank you for helping keep our buddy on this side of the dirt.”

    “Wait how do you know he did?” Paul asked with a tilt of his head.

    “I don’t, I just feel it.”

    “You and your feelings. Next time you get one of those feelings I hope it’s for where your next boyfriend is. The last time was a riot.” The Titan’s smile tuned rather mischievous.

    “Very funny Tom.” Edna stuck her tongue out at him.

    “And yes, I am Tom. Nice to meet you Tin Can.”

    “Tin can?!” Ghost asked, sounding awfully offended in place of his Guardian.

    “Ugh, I’m sorry. He always gives nick names like that. Do you know how long it took to get him to stop calling me Tin Can and Cid the Golden Bastard?” Paul sighed.

    “Well that’s… a new one. But… wait…” Ghost suddenly seemed to have a realization, “…why are there only three of you? Shouldn’t there be two more?”

    Suddenly the air turned dark and sullen. No one needed to really say what happened, it was written on their faces.

    “Oh… oh no. I’m so sorry.” Ghost’s shell started to droop.

    “They survived the city, but the Hive here got them in our first attempt to take this place.” Paul’s gaze turned to the ground.

    “We tried warning Zavala this place would be infested, but he didn’t listen to us. Too busy thinking about retaking the city instead of the fact we have no light.” Edna scowled and folded her arms.

    “And now Marlene, Darin, and a lot of other Guardians paid the price. They’re dead, and they’re not coming back. When we heard you guys coming in, we thought it was suicide sending you two out there, light or not.” Tom added.

    Alexander started to beep and Ghost translated, “I still can’t believe he would come here. He was there for the Dreadnaught mission and everything! Not to mention he didn’t listen to your warnings, and you were there!”

    “I know, it pisses us off to no end, but we’re nothing compared to what’s gonna happen when Cid finds out.” Paul’s gaze turned to the window.

    “We’re not going to tell him, not yet. We’ll just say they died during the attack on the city. We really don’t need him or anyone else for that matter screaming at Zavala when we’re running out of time.” Edna sternly told them.

    “Wait, we’re going to lie to him?!” Ghost looked between the three of them in rapid movements.

    “Calm down, we’ll come clean after this whole ordeal is over. Trust me though, right now, he doesn’t need to know. Morale around here is at an all time low as it is, and Zavala’s the only one that’s going to bring it up again, and even he right now is the most sullen I’ve ever seen him.  Once Cid finds out he’s going to kill him.”

    “I still don’t like the idea of lying to him. I never really got the vibe that he could get that angry.”

    “He wasn’t always like that, but he is now. Just trust us ok? We’ve known Cid for a long time, it’s better he doesn’t know what happened to Marlene or Darin right now.”

    Paul and Tom nodded in silent agreement. Ghost still didn’t like it and turned to his Guardian for his thoughts. Alexander wasn’t really sure what to think of this whole situation. The witch troubled him still, and now this. Edna did have a point, they had enough problems right now, but he still didn’t like hiding things from people, especially friends.

    He let out what was supposed to be a sigh and beeped to his Ghost something.

    “Alex, are you sure?” Ghost asked. His Guardian nodded and Ghost turned to the other three, “Ok, we’ll keep quiet, but we won’t like it!”

    “We don’t like it either, but we don’t need our Commander to face the wrath of hell right now.” Edna brushed some of her hair behind her ear, “Listen, I promise we’ll tell him alright? Trust us.”

    Alex gave a nod in response. He looked out to the rows of sleeping bags, wondering if he was even going to catch a wink of sleep. All he could think about was what could be happening at the camp and at the city right now…

* * * *

  Shortly after Alexander left, it seemed like wave after wave of desperate people and Guardians came in.

    Gale quickly became busy with the other doctors to treat the wounded. They were quickly overrun with people who needed help, and ended up dividing them up as to who were the people in the most immediate danger who would need their attention right away and those who could hold out a little longer. There were others with medical training, but they far outnumbered the people who needed help. She even resorted to her healing rift for the more minor problems to try and clear them up while they could focus on the injuries she couldn’t just use her Light for.

  Supplies were a necessity, and the two hunters grabbed everyone they could and started to scout across the EDZ. Medical supplies and food were top priority, but armor, weapons, anything they could use to defend themselves were next. Anyone who could use a gun and didn’t go scouting were back at the home front with Cid, keeping an eye on the perimeter.

  Anxiety and grief was eating away at him, slowly but surely. By this time he nearly set something on fire twice because something startled him. He took to the air, carefully floating around the area, trying to see anything he normally wouldn’t from the ground. He had hoped being in the air would clear his head a little, make him feel a little less on edge. If anything however it just made him more tired, which was not something he needed either.

   When he wasn’t gliding about the place, keeping his eyes out for anything heading their way, he was sitting on the gate, watching the people coming in. He hoped what was left of his fireteam would be among them, but no such luck. Sitting here he felt the exhaustion take him a little more, and as the hours dragged on between the flying, walking around, and the sitting on the fence, he felt the lack of sleep catching up with him, and there was no coffee to save him from dozing off this time.

  “Excuse me.” Someone spoke up, startling him once more. He whirled around to see the old lady from the other day standing behind him with a polite smile, “May I stand next to you?”

  “Uh… sure thing ma’am…” he answered rather sheepishly. He still wasn’t sure quite how to talk to normal people. Stella merely giggled a little and leaned against the railing beside him.

   “No need to be nervous, I’m just an old lady.”

   “And I’m an old man, and have the ability to set this entire place on fire.”

   She laughed a little, “That doesn’t make me any less old you know. For us people, age does play a factor for us. These days however I’ve found myself ignoring my age, though perhaps that may not be wise with a little seven year old running about.”

    She turned towards the medical tent and Cid looked over as well. There was that child she was always carrying around, picking flowers and giving them to the people waiting for help.

    “She’s your granddaughter?” Cid asked.

    “No. I never knew her until the fall of the city. Both parents are gone, and she hasn’t found any other family here. She’s been teaching me many things… things like how even though I’m old, I’m still good for something.” Stella looked over at him, “I saw what happened earlier. Are you feeling alright?”

    Cid seemed a little surprised when the subject suddenly turned on his wellbeing, “I’m fine.”

    “That’s what your friend said too, all the way to where those ships gathered. She wouldn’t let any one of us help her. Tried to be the brave Guardian that would protect the people. She was shaking for the last part of the trip you know… then I could tell she was exhausted, ready to fall over any second until she saw you and those girls. I’ve been seeing similar symptoms in you.”

    His eyes cast down to his right hand, “I… didn’t notice.”

    “You’re tense, you’re exhausted, and it’s understandable. Take a walk why don’t you? Try to breathe every once in a while. And that friend of yours… perhaps she can help you much more than I can.”

    They turned towards the tent again at the sound of Gale stepping out and noticing Dani. The small child reached up and gave her a flower, which Gale proceeded to put in her hair and express her gratitude.

  “She’s most likely on break now, don’t you think it’s time you took one too?” Stella asked with a raised brow. Cid didn’t really say anything to that, but did slide off the fence and wandered over. Maybe a walk wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

    Gale looked up with a smile when he wandered over, motioning for Dani to go back and see Stella. She already seemed so weary, but the flower seemed to have cheered her up a little.

    “Hey, you’re taking a break too?” Gale asked.

    He gave a bit of a nod, “I guess so.”

    She reached for his hand, “Come on, I know something’s been bothering you. Let’s walk a bit, ok?”

    He glanced down at her hand and slowly took it, “Alright…”

    “Stella!” the two Guardians looked up at Dani who was now at the woman’s side and pointing at them, “Are they dating?”

    The innocent question made a small squeak come out of Gale’s throat and her cheeks burn. Cid quickly let go of her hand and hid it behind his back, feeling a similar sensation on his entire face. All the while Stella burst out laughing.

    “Oh dear! No my dear Dani! I do not believe so!”

    “But they’re holding hands!”

    “Friends can hold hands too you know!”

    The two of them decided to quickly slip away while the old woman seemed to lose it over the child’s innocent question. At this point, they weren’t sure if she was laughing at the child or their reaction.

    “Why does everyone ask that?” Cid grumbled.

    “Relax, she’s a kid.” Gale chided a little.

    “And how many others have asked?”

    “Cid.” She gently reached up and held his upper arm, “It’s fine.”

    He let out a long breath through his nose, “I know… but seriously do you know how many times Tom asked me if I was dating you?”

    She let out another laugh, “Do you have any idea how many times those nurses asked me if I was dating you?”

   He glanced to the side a bit as he remembered the three ladies that surrounded him that day, “Point taken.”

   She giggled a little bit. It seemed that Stella was right, he did feel better now. He still didn’t feel quite like himself, but Gale helped to take his mind off of his worries. He even cracked a weary smile for her.

    “Hey Cid…” she started, seemingly in thought, “Do you remember running into an aircraft on your way to where Hawthorne had her gathering?”

    He raised a brow, “I did, yeah. Red and I took one. Why do you ask?”

    “Well, it might not be the same one, but while we were walking there, we found a stash of supplies next to where an aircraft seemed to be parked at one point. A lot of food namely. I’ve been wondering ever since why it was left there…”

    Cid had to stop for a moment and stare at his feet as he processed that. What were the odds, that Gale went the same direction that they did, and found those supplies that Red had left there? Those supplies he had yelled at him about, had actually helped someone, and it was Gale of all people. That stupid thing had actually done some good.

    “Cid?” she tilted her head, “Is something wrong?”

    “I’m… give me a minute…”

    Gale decided it was better not to ask this time.

* * * *

   The only sound that night was the sound of a stick being slowly whittled away at by a knife. Sarah couldn’t sleep. It was hard to when images of nightmares past and present danced through her mind when she closed her eyes. She sat down on the perch where Hawthorne usually overlooked the farm, sharpening a stick, not wanting company as usual. She was sure the other three were also struggling to sleep, and she didn’t want to bother them, and she was never one for talking to strangers.

   The day had been very successful. The brought home all sorts of food and materials the farm could use. Ash even had a chance to try her sword and found, to her delight, she was able to use it just as easily as before. The ease did help, as they were out for hours trying to find every scrap that was useful for their current home base, competing with Fallen Scavengers. It was tiring, but worth it. Unfortunately, the exhaustion didn’t help her sleep.

   “You know that’s my perch right?” she heard a familiar voice behind her.

   “I don’t see your name on it.” Sarah turned her head a little to look at Hawthorne who only shrugged.

   “Fair enough.”

   To Sarah’s surprise, the woman sat down beside her. After the stunt she pulled back when they first met, she didn’t expect Hawthorne to be even remotely friendly towards her. Maybe she was trying to smooth over the rift between them?

  “Can’t sleep?” Sarah asked. Hawthorne let out a dry chuckle.

   “Who the hell can?”

  “That’s fair.”

   There was silence between them for a moment other than the sound of Sarah’s knife on the wood. Hawthore seemed to be in thought, looking for conversation topics, or something they shared in common.

  “…Ever had Deer?” Hawthorne asked with a raised brow.

  “Probably some of the best meat you can get. They’ve bounced back since we’ve been confined into one little corner of the planet, same with everything else.”

  Hawthorne raised a brow, “Just how old are you?”

   “I don’t really know. You start not paying attention to the years, or at least I haven’t. Don’t even remember the age I died at in my first life, but I’d guess 25? Or something. I don’t think I was dead long, cause I still have some recollection of my last life. A lot of Guardians don’t. But I’ve been alive long enough to know what it was like after the Battle of the Twilight Gap and the whole thing with SIVA. Wasn’t pretty.”

    She was very old, very tired, and until recently, very lonely. She hadn’t even realized how lonely she was until Ash showed up.

   “So you’re actually pretty old.”

   “Not as old as others. Zavala predates the city, then of course there’s the Iron Lords.”

   “So you’ve been a Survivalist for a long time.”

   “You have to know some skills of surviving if you’re going to be in this trade of securing secrets, supplies, and killing assholes for weeks at a time, on planet or off it.”

   “Huh, you might even be able to teach me a few tricks.”

   Sarah shook her head, “No. You managed to get all this together? You know as much as I do if not more.”

   “You sure about that?”

   “In my first life, I did this for my village after we were raided by the Fallen. A survival camp. We kept it up for at least a year until the Fallen Bastards found us again.”

   “At least a year?”

   “I died during that raid.” Sarah sighed, “I don’t know what happened to it, or anyone else in that camp… or…”

  Hawthorne bit her lower lip watching the woman cast her gaze the ground below. It was obvious that it still bothered the other, not knowing what happened back then. She probably never would know.

   “Man, I’m not sure I like being proving wrong about you people.”

   Sarah raised her brows, “Come again?”

   “The mute has more backbone than I could’ve figured, the nurse has more fight in her than I would’ve guessed, and now here you are proving you’re not such an asshole.”

   Sarah gave out a small dry laugh, “Well I mean… I didn’t give you the best first impression.”

   “To be fair, neither did I. And uh… I’m sorry about accusing your friend there. Still feel like he looks familiar, but he seems to be alright.”

   “I’m not the one you should apologize to. Look I’ll be honest, I don’t know him that well, but I know a good person when I see one. I saw in you, even though I was pissed off. I just wasn’t having any of your shit.”

  “Honestly, more than fair. Sooo… we on better terms now?”

   “I’d say so.”

   The two shook on it, but Sarah had a question she needed answered.

   “I have to ask, why did you come out here in the first place?”

   “You know that old lady that sings songs? Well I was up, she was up, and she told me I should try smooth things over… kinda glad I listened to my elders for once.”

   Sarah let out a bit of a chuckle, “Elder? That woman is younger than 90% of us Guardians.”

   “But she looks old, you guys don’t.”

  “Believe me, I’ve seen some old looking Guardians. They act old too.”

   They spent the rest of the night talking back and forth, mostly of survival tricks and tips, and things they both had seen.

* * * *

   As predicted, Alex didn’t get much sleep with this newfound anxiety.

   There wasn’t another voice in his sleep, which he was sort of grateful for. As soon as he got up, he grabbed Red who seemed to be just as restless, and headed back out into the storm towards the large neighbouring Pacific archaeology. Amanda had wanted to get her hands on something in there to help decrypt the Red Legion signals.

    “Alex? I kind of want to get out of here.” Red admitted as they made their way past the bustling people and Guardians salvaging what they could.

    “We all want to get out of here Red.” Ghost translated, “We just got to do this, then help everyone load up, and then hopefully we’ll be out of here soon.”

   “Good, cause I don’t like fighting the Hive.”

   “Believe me, neither do we.”

   Over the bridge to the Rig through the storm and the Hive threatening to creep back in they came to the largest building. The once right white paint now added to the looming figure of the archaeology. Even from the outside, it was clear parts of it was still in the strangle of the Hive, and might be for quite some time before they had the man power to push them out. Right now wasn’t a good time. This was a grab and go sort of job, even if they didn’t know where their CPU was.

    It was do or die time. They had to get a hold of it, see what the Red Legion’s next move was, so they even had a hope of mounting a full on counter attack.

    Across another broken bridge the came under the crumbling entry way for cover. What seemed to be an old warehouse held the stairs to a backstage maintenance area. It seemed that the Fallen had already beaten them there, they even had a Servitor. They were easy pickings for Alexander and Red, as they didn’t expect the two Titans to come in shooting. It didn’t take long to clear them out and find what they were trying to do. To their right it seemed that they were attempting to cut through some multicoloured tiles. They were close to being done; it only took Alexander’s fist to bust a hole through so they could crawl in.

    Both of them were taken aback for a moment. The entire floor was still full of life. Plants were growing out of their pots and creeping along the walls. Pools of water allowed for more to grow on the floor, out of the posts, the walls, hardly leaving any of the concrete floor untouched. The screen glowed with vibrant colours, lighting up the room, and beyond that they could see that the entire facility went on for what seemed to be miles. Even after all of these years, a voice could still be heard as well, welcoming people inside for the first time in hundreds of years.

  “Wow…” Ghost manifested himself beside Alexander, “Amanda, it sounds like the place is up and running again.”

    “Awesome!” Her voice echoed through the Ghost, “Keep an eye out for an OS terminal. It should help you pin point the location of this CPU.”

    They slowly started to make their way around the room, the voice over the PDA still moaning out the same facts to a new set of ears. Through a door was another hallway consumed with more plant life. It was strange to go through it and see the moss growing on the walls where water dripped down, plants once so tidy now threatening to swallow the floor completely. Yet the lights of the displays were still there, showing colourful pictures of flowers and starfish. It was a surreal world they were stepping into: a gloomy place that still breathed with life.

    The further in they went, the more the lights seemed to fail. The displays only showed red lines, if that, and the lights began to flicker. Strangely enough, the small roombas were still operating, even after all this time, trying to vacuum the floor with no avail. They carefully stepped around those and finally noticed a touch screen that was still working.

    “Give me a second to look at that.” Ghost told them and flew over, scanning the terminal for a moment. “Let’s see… the CPU is deep in the maintenance levels. Does that sound right Amanda?”

    “Bingo! That’s the place!”

    “Alright, if we keep going this way, we should keep finding stairs and keep heading downwards.”

    The two nodded, and walked to the door nearby. Between the two of them, they were able to pry it open enough to slip inside, and find one of the spots where the Hive had made themselves quite comfortable. They couldn’t see it from up on the ledge, looking down into the darkness surroundings the palm trees.  Alexander took point, carefully sliding down and finding out that the darkness was in fact a waist deep pool of water. He already didn’t like it. It was cold, and he was also pretty sure there was a lot more than just water down here. He motioned for his Ghost to transmat himself back into his bag and held his gun at the ready as Red jumped down himself.

    Just as he suspected, as they drew closer to the stairs, Thralls began to rise out of the water and charge at them. The sounds of the screams summoned some of the Hive from the neighbouring room up the stairs.

    The sound of guns echoing in the halls piqued the interest of the Witch again from the outside. She was much quieter with her entrance this time, wanting to observe the wielders of the light instead of scaring them. She was able to contain the massive power she had and lurked in the shadows behind them, watching them fight through the stagnant water and the Thralls.

     The moment she had been cut down back then had been painful, but a lesson she had needed. When Rezyl Azzir came to her back then, he was a desperate fool looking for answers. The idiot killed her back then and another Knight, not realizing that she could just be brought back through a ritual since he had not killed her worm. The part he took from her body however allowed her to begin to whisper to the man, and allowed her to slowly but surely control the man and begin his descent into madness. After that she didn’t need to even control him, but instead watched in glee as he destroyed, consumed, for so many years until he was finally put down. By then, he had been called Dredgen Yor. He had taught her so much, including how to better her English, and more of how the city worked.

   After that she waited patiently. She had other things to take care of while her Thorn was dormant. She moved from the moon where Crota reigned to the Dreadnaught, and then further out to where Savathun ruled. It was not a decision she made lightly, but when she heard of the Guardians finally succeeding on the Moon, she sure was glad she was away from it all. The real blow however was when Oryx was finally killed in this Throne Room. Savathun wailed that day, and from a distance, she could hear the cries of Xivu Arath.

   But then she felt something one day, five years ago. Someone was in possession of her weapon, using the powers of the Void. A Voidwalker who let curiosity get the better of him found her weapon. It had been so easy to tempt his hand, but it wasn’t nearly as easy to break him. She would laugh at him, taunt him wear him down to nothing but ashes. From the ashes she had hoped to bring about a new corrupted Guardian to cause havoc. She had even gotten his ghost that time…

    But from the ashes rose not an Agent of the Deep, but a Phoenix of the Light. He cut her down that day and she felt it in the Sword world. The searing of her flesh, the heat of the flames, the boiling of her blood, she felt all of that before their connection was severed. It left her with conflicted feelings. She was enraged, naturally, but she also thought of him as beautiful, stunning able to fight back when he gained that one little push from the Vanguard.

    Savathun laughed when she told her. She called it love, and began to recall all of those times where her siblings killed each other to make them learn. For centuries Oryx, Xivu Arath, and Savathun had challenged each other in their games. They killed each other over and over, and they did it out of love for each other. They would come back stronger, and better than ever. They would grow in strength and wisdom with each death.

 _Learn from this._  Savathun instructed.  _I doubt he returns your feelings of love, the people of the Sky are foolish after all, but you can still learn a thing or two from that death._

   And then the giant Goddess of Cunning left, clearly still mourning the loss of her dear brother.

   Now she was learning, and observing. She had not seen that Guardian in five years, but she had taken the time to learn more of possession, and now she was learning more about the Light and the wielders that caused Oryx so much trouble. The Cabal had put a dent in that project of course, but she found it curious that some Guardians were getting that precious Light back. These two Guardians she was following however didn’t seem like much honestly. They were nothing compared to the majesty of that Phoenix in her mind. The one without the Ghost by his head constantly to communicate was clearly a bumbling idiot, and the other? He had made a grave mistake back on top of that pillar, trying to help the idiot who charged off on his own ahead. He could’ve so easily died and she could snatched that light.

   Yet, why were they such a challenge for the knights that marched through? Why couldn’t that wizard put down the idiot that came barrelling at her as they climbed the stairs and down the hall. Xyer watched as Alexander and Red stormed the hall, ignoring the pain inflicted on them. They jumped down a hole filled with skeletons and the debris from her kind seemingly without fear. In the dark room, the Knight and his Thalls hardly slowed them down.

 _Useless,_  she thought.  _They all must be useless._

    Surely the Shrieker on the other side of the room would prove to be a challenge. The great structure opened its eye and launched a flurry of projectiles at them. The one that usually had the Ghost out got in front of his friend and summoned forth a shield that would buy them enough time to get behind cover. Just like before, they simply hid behind a pillar and took shots at it bit by bit. She wanted to roll her eyes, to let out a sound of disgust at such an annoying normal tactic.

    But she stopped herself, because the one with the Ghost then did something she didn’t expect. For a moment, instead of the calm energy of the void, there was a fire in that man’s hand. A fire that was always there, but just needed more time to be able to carve out its own path, to be the leader he would need to be one day.

   The Void shield won over and he used it to bash away the projectiles before throwing it into the Shrieker and blowing it to bits. It was there that Xyer relearned something called ‘potential’.

    She watched a little longer as they dove deeper and deeper into the archaeology before she decided she had enough. The Guardians clearly weren’t going to be stopped, and that one with the Ghost by his side clearly had the potential to be a real threat to the Hive later when Savathun could finally make it into the system. For now, she would return to preparing her ritual for when that day came, and she hoped at the very least, she would end up with a Guardian like that when she finally was ready to pull it off.

    “Did you hear that?” Ghost asked as she quietly tore a new hole in reality and slipped away. The entire time they had no idea they were being followed. Alexander shook his head in response and busted a hole through and old vent and crawled inside. Red followed him through the gunk, the stagnant water, and the dirt, descending further and deeper into this place.

    Finally a panel gave out beneath the weight of the EXO and he fell through into a large room. Luckily he landed on the floor instead of falling into the darkness below. (Even if it was flat on his face.) When he looked up he found himself taken aback by the sheer size of the room. It seemed to go on forever with glass panels lining the walls that showed the oceans of Titan. There in the middle he could see the round CPU that was just waiting for him to take it. Once Red landed beside him, he stood up and lifted himself over.

   This seemed way too easy. Could they just really take it? There had t be a trick to this…

  “Uh… guys….” Ghost suddenly piped up. Alexander looked up to see his Ghost shaking in his shell, and he could clearly see why. In the glass panes he could see the sea creature slowly making his way across the glass. He honestly had no idea what it could be, but the sheer size of it compared to himself was enough for him to be intimidated. If that thing attacked the Rig or Siren’s Watch…

   A loud alarm broke him out of his thoughts He turned around to see Red holding the CPU and looking around confused as to why there were suddenly red lights and speakers blaring.

  “WARNING! CPU NETWORK DISRUPTED!”

  “Well there’s no way the Hive didn’t hear that alarm!” Ghost shouted. Alexander grabbed Red’s free arm and started to run through the nearest door and up the hallway. The Hive would be swarming them at any second now, and they didn’t have the luxury of standing around thinking about what to do.

    “We got the CPU but we stirred up the entire Hive colony! There’s no easy way to the surface either!” Ghost radioed.

    “Move it Guardians!” Zavala commanded.

    “They’re not gonna make it out Commander…” Amanda told him.

    “Alex, can you at least make it to the center of the Archaeology? We can send someone to pick you up.”

    Alexander opened the next door and noticed a large maintenance vehicle there. He didn’t know why it was built more like an armoured vehicle with tracks instead of wheels, but didn’t care. It could fit both of them in there and he could drive it over the Hive. It shouldn’t be too hard…. right?

    “Yes! Yes we can!” Ghost shouted.

    “Holiday?” Zavala asked.

    “Y…Yeah. Yeah I’m on it.” She stuttered out from the other side. As the two boys climbed on top of the tank were scrambling to get the hatch open, the Ghost decided to give a few encouraging words of his own to the nervous pilot.

    “You can do this Amanda. It’s just a simple job, get in, get us, and get out, no fighting involved. You can do it, we believe in you.”

    A small laugh, “You know, for a little Ghost, you’ve got a big heart.”

   There was the sound of the hatch opening and Ghost followed the two in and floated beside Alexander as he sat in the driver’s seat and Red squished himself in the back and closed the hatch above them. It didn’t take much to get it running again thankfully, but the controls were different from the aircraft. Yes it had the steering wheel, but what were these pedals by his feet? What were the dials measuring? What were these buttons?

    He hit the gas pedal too hard and both Titans found themselves pressed against the seats as it roared forward and through the barrier the Hive tried to set up. Alexander gripped the wheel as tight as he could as he turned the corners, running over anything in his way, clenching his teeth together as he could hear projectiles hitting the sides of the vehicle.

    “Next time, maybe we shouldn’t steal the vehicle, at least until you’re a better driver.” Ghost commented. Alexander beeped something back and the Ghost shook his shell, “No! No I would not rather Red driving! I’m just saying you’re a new driver!”

    It was a rough ride all the way there. As much as Alexander tried to avoid bashing into rocks the Hive made, it was nearly impossible not to hit one or two. Over the mounds and through the Hive the vehicle took a beating it had not in hundreds of years. He was also sure he had never been as tense as he was now, and hoped he would never again have to drive something like this.

  Finally the road cleared and he came upon the beautiful and lush center. Through a hole in the roof, Amanda slowly descended down to meet them there.

    “See! I told you that you could do it!” Ghost cheered.

    “Yeah, you did little guy. I see you guys. Let’s get you out of here. Things might finally be looking up for us!”

* * * *

   Dark

   Dark

   Why was it so dark in here?

  Blackness, nothingness, it surrounded him in here. He couldn’t see the barn walls here. He could feel that he was lying on the ground, yes, but that was about all he could feel that was solid. The nothingness around him seemed to somehow close in on him, pressing against his body. His breathing became irregular as he looked all around for something, anything, in the dark. No, no, no, no he couldn’t be back in that nightmare. That witch couldn’t be here. Yet he couldn’t seem to move his body. It was paralysed somehow. Unfortunately he misidentified the symptom as the witch’s magic, instead of his panic attack, which of course only made it worse.

   A small sound came out of his throat, and he hated himself for it. It was weak, terrified, scared half to death of the witch that tore his world apart. It was however enough to wake up his neighbour who was used to children crying out in the night and having to wake up at a minute’s notice.

  “Cid…?” a familiar voice called out, “Are you…?”

  “Gale? Gale are you there?” he turned his head and could see her glowing eyes in the same direction and proximity as where her voice came from. It still wasn’t enough for him to calm down.

   “Cid? What’s wrong?” her voice went from raspy from being woken up to clear and concerned. He felt her hand on his face which made him grow tense. Her hand was softer, gentler, but without being able to see what was around him…

  “Light… Gale can you turn on a light or…?”

  He felt it almost immediately. He could see the shimmer on her skin light up as she summoned forth her healing rift. The glow was enough so he could see her, his surroundings, and know for sure that he was safe. She was right there, one hand on his cheek and another now holding his hand. There were other people here, all sound asleep and not in immediate danger. He was fine, everyone was fine, he wasn’t in that hellscape anymore…

   “Does that help?” she asked.

  “Yes… thank you…” he seemed to slowly calm down in the gentle light, which helped to ease some of her worry.

    “Bad dream?” she asked.

    “Something like that…”

    He sat up and placed his head in his hands, taking deep breaths to calm himself.  He could feel her hand on his back, trying to comfort him. He could hear the small sound of a Ghost turning on its flashlight for them. It was most likelyWinter, judging from where the sound came from. His was a heavy sleeper and was surely still curled up in the sleeping bag.

    “Breathe, it’s ok…” she ran her hand up and down his back, “You’re alright.”

    There was a pause between them. She was a comfort, a reminder that the nightmare was long over. She may have been one of the newest friends he had made, but there was no denying she was one of the closest. Yet she didn’t know the worst of him. He was afraid to show her the worst side of him and tell her his horrid secret.

  Still… she had known for some time that something was bothering him. Didn’t he owe her an explanation? He had been hoping she would eventually forget about it, but she certainly wouldn’t now.

  “…You know I… I guess I never did tell you I’m scared of the dark.” He finally said. He glanced up to see her face. In the dim light from her rift and Winter’s light, he could see how she looked at him like he had two heads. “Not so much darkness itself… just… the pitch black… empty void. It’s dark… can’t see the world around me or anything. There’s nothing there but…”

    A laugh. A laugh he tried so hard to forget.

    “Cid… it’s ok…” she tried to coax him a little by moving her hand to his shoulder

    “…it’s always a witch. It’s always this evil… spawn of hell in there… It does awful things, to me, to my fireteam, to you…” he looked back down as he brought his rebuilt hand to his head, “I wake up… and there’s usually a light on in my room. It reminds me it was nothing, a nightmare, nothing more. I can’t sleep without one anymore it seems…” he let out a dry, humourless chuckle, “Me, of all fucking people, needs a light on to feel safe at night…I woke up thinking I was still there…”

    “Cid that’s…”

    “It’s just… ironic. The guy that fucking killed a God has to sleep with a nightlight. Sounds like the punch line to some awful joke.”

    She glanced down for a moment, “I’m sorry…”

    He raised his brows and glanced back up, “For what?”

    “For… I just feel bad. That must be awful.” She looked back at him, “You’ve been through so much… How long has this been going on? Have you told anyone before?”

    He felt a pit in his stomach as he lowered his hand and head. He knew full well how long it had been going on for.

    “The last… 5 years or so? My fireteam knew…”

    They more than knew. They saw firsthand what the Thorn did to him. It made him a wreck, and it took years to finally feel somewhat normal again, and that was with their help along with Annabelle. He had even kicked his nightmares for a while. But recent events, the mention of his role 5 years ago, and now this hole? It was finally returning with a vengeance.

    But now that he mentioned his fireteam aloud, he felt that hole gnawing away at his chest again. He could ignore it for the most part, but now it ached and wailed in his heart, mourning everything he lost. He felt that odd feeling in his eyes again, despite lacking the ability for tears, and finally the truth she had been waiting for came out.

  “…they… knew. And now I…” she could hear him struggle to say it past the growing lump in his throat, “I… I think at least one of them… at least one of them isn’t coming home Gale…”

   Her eyes widened a little, “You mean…”

   “I can feel it… they’re dead. At least one of them is dead. I don’t know how many or who, but I can feel that they’re gone, forever.”

    She bit her lower lip. So this was what he was hiding from her? Why? Why would he keep this to himself? Had this been eating away at him since they got the Light back? Why didn’t he say anything? Was it to keep up some illusion of strength?

   She then realized it didn’t matter right now.

  “…Cid… I’m sorry. I really am.”

   She hadn’t felt much loss in her second life, not much personal loss, not until the hospital crumbled around her. Even then she couldn’t imagine what it must feel like now to lose someone important. Not entirely. The mere thought sickened her, especially considering how it very easily could’ve happened. They lost their home, their light, but those were things they could get back.

    But people? People who didn’t have the blessing of being resurrected? When they were gone, there was no getting them back. She had felt pains before when Cid would get hurt or die on a mission, only to be resurrected and healed. When the resurrection happened, it went away. To him however, that pain would probably never go away, or at the very least be there for a long time.

    “I… I feel bad…” he tried to hold it together, but the very thing he feared was happening, the reason he hesitated to tell her in the first place. He could feel something inside him crumbling inside no matter how hard he tried to stop it. Right in front of her he was falling apart. “I… I tried to… I thought you know… I’d never lose them. I’d thought that after Oryx we had survived everything this crazy world could throw at us. But…” there was that small pitch in his throat again. If he could, he would have been in tears at this point, “But… fuck… fuck I just keeping thinking… What happened to them? Why did they die? Why did this happen just… why them? Why them and not some fucking evil incarnate from hell? Why them and not…”

     _And not me._  That part was left unsaid.

    “Cid…”

    “I’m scared. I’m fucking terrified. This whole fucking thing is awful, so many people are dead, and now them. I was afraid before of just the fucking dark and now this. I don’t want anyone else to die. I don’t want you to die. I heard you scream and I thought something awful was happening to you and I panicked and I nearly…”

  “Shh…” she cooed, rubbing his back, “It’s ok. It’s ok to be scared. It’s normal to be scared.”

   “Now isn’t the time to be scared.” His speech was getting faster, more strained, and just a bit louder. “These people need someone that can protect them, not someone who’s terrified of what is going to come and wipe everyone out. I keep jumping at shadows and nearly setting things on fire because I keep thinking something is there. I swear I keep hearing Cabal out in the fields but nothing is ever out there. And now Alex has gone after the Hive and just… fuck why didn’t I go after him? Why did I listen to Sarah? If he dies out there…”

    “Cid…!” she hissed. That made him stop mid ramble, “It’s ok. You’re scared. We’re all scared. Stop beating yourself up for being terrified. You don’t have to be a Guardian who fears nothing all the time. It’s normal to be scared after all that, and you don’t have to hide it in front of us. We’re your friends, we understand.” She shifted over and put herself right in front of him, placing her hands on his shoulders, “You don’t have to hide that you’re hurting, or you’re scared in front of me. Even though you’ve done all you have, it’s still normal to feel like this. You’re still a person, and even a Guardian gets scared every now and then. You know that.” She tried to smile for him, “I won’t tell anyone of course, but you should know that it’s ok. If you’re still feeling paranoid, talk to me ok? We can go for a walk or something and get your mind off of it. Better than dwelling on it and letting it eat at you.”

   There were several points where he wanted to say he did need to hide something. She said all this now, but what would happen when she found out the one story he refused to tell her? She wouldn’t be smiling. She might even hate him. Somehow that thought hurt even more than the pain in his chest.

   She brought her hands down to his upper arms, “Cid… I don’t want you to be afraid to tell me things. You’re my friend. I care about you. I’m not going to try and make you feel bad for feeling this way or anything like that.”

   He brought a hand up to hers, but didn’t try to pry it off, “You had enough to worry about without my problems…”

   She shook her head, “You’re going to worry me more by not telling me what’s bothering you.”

   His fingers curled around her hand, “You’re a Guardian, a Nurse, you have a lot of other people’s problems on your shoulders.”

   “I think I can handle one more, and it’s not so heavy when you share it with others, don’t you think?”

   There was some truth to those words. He began to remember all those time at the bar or the couch, telling each other stories, her ranting about something that drove her up the wall. Somehow that memory seemed so long ago, so far away, when really they last did that was only 2 weeks ago.

  “Yeah…”

   She gave his arms a small comforting squeeze, “You’re going to be ok Cid. Everything will be alright. We’ll find the rest of your fireteam and find out what happened. We’ll take back the city, make those Cabal pay for what they did. We’ll make things right. We can’t get back your friend, but we can make sure they didn’t die for nothing.”

    He knew all of this, but hearing it coming from her mouth? Perhaps that’s what he needed, was to hear someone else be so sure that they could do it, and they would. The hole still ached, he was still tired, but he did feel a little better now. He let go of her hand and instead reached over and pulled the woman into a hug. She was right, they could do this, but it also meant he had to pull himself together now.

    “Thank you.” He quietly mumbled. She smiled and wrapped her arms around him.

   “You haven’t felt any other pangs since Alex left… which means he’s fine. Have faith Cid. Everything will be ok. You’re not alone in this either.” She whispered.

   He wouldn’t ever have to be alone in the dark. Not if she had any say in it.

* * * *

    The news was grim when they finally decoded those messages.

    “They call it the Almighty.” Sloane told Alexander, Ghost, and Zavala. In the little room they had set up a small table to discuss things at. The left Red out of the meeting this time around, feeling like it would go over his head or he wouldn’t pay attention anyways.

    “It’s the crown jewel of the Red Legion, and the life’s work of Dominus Ghaul. Ghaul has subjugated hundreds of worlds. Those that resisted, no longer exist.” Sloane paused, took a breath before continuing, “You see the Almighty annihilates stars… nothing, and no one survives Ghaul’s ambition. What he wants is the Traveler and its Light. As for the Almighty… it’s now pointed at our sun. In short sir… the war’s over…” She looked up at Zavala, “And we’ve lost…”

    Alexander stared wide eyed at her. A weapon that could destroy stars… if this thing went off it meant the end of everything. If that was the case, then why hadn’t it gone off yet? Had they still not pried the Light from the Traveler? Then how much time was really left? When would they know how to sap the Light out of it?

    Zavala seemed so disheartened, staring at the table, feeling the weight of everything on his shoulders. Alexander could imagine how he must feel now. His Light was gone, he was the leader that led so many people to their deaths, and now when things were finally looking up, their hopes had just been crushed.

    But there was something he strongly believed, and he started to vocalize it.

    “No! No it’s not over!” Ghost started to translate as they both turned to Sloane, “As long as we’re still alive and breathing, we still have a fighting chance! There’s no way I’m giving up now! There has to be a way!”

    “Alex…” Sloane started.

    “Look, we don’t know how much time we have left, but whatever we got, we should focus on taking down the Almighty.  We need a plan to get on that thing and take it out. Once that big threat is out of the way, then we can focus on Ghaul.”

    Sloane said nothing more to that, and instead turned to her commander who had been listening in the entire time.

    “Zavala…”

    He didn’t answer for a moment, but when he did it sounded so solemn, “We built our home under the protection of the Traveler. When our enemies attacked, we built walls to keep us safe… but now walls mean nothing.” He stood up straighter, a spark of determination reigniting in his heart, “This enemy has taken our home, taken our Light, and now they threaten our very existence! We’re going all in on this Almighty!” he turned to Sloane, “How long until the fleet is combat ready?”

    “Zavala… wait…” Sloane started, but was stopped by his fist slamming into the table.

    “IF WE WAIT, WE DIE!” he shouted before letting his voice lower in volume, “But if we attack together, we can take back our home, our Light, our hope!” his shoulders start to sink a little as the intensity left him, “Or at least we die trying…”

    As much as he was all in for an assault on the city and the Almighty, Alexander felt like he needed more of a plan than just take the weakened airfleet, shoot at the weapon, and hope it works. They needed more than that.

    “Now… I need my fireteam…” Zavala mumbled, “I need Ikora… and Cayde…”

    “Do you have any idea where either of them could be?” Ghost asked

    “Weeeeelll….” they heard a new voice from the corner. When they turned around, there was Edna, twirling a knife and watching them, “I’ve got a hit on one of them.”

    “How long have you been there Edna?” Zavala asked.

    “Long enough to hear the entire thing.” She walked up to the table, “So long as you’re ready to listen to me this time, I’ll tell you where Cayde is.”

    Zavala glanced down for a moment. Alexander was sure he saw guilt in those eyes, “Go on Edna.”

    “While you guys were after that CPU, Tom and I were messing with the radio system here. We picked up really weird signal. It’s a ghost’s signal, but it’s coming from some weird little centaur called Nessus. Something is blowing that signal sky high, and it sounds very familiar. My money is on Cayde being there.”

    “That’s pretty far off, and we’re still salvaging, and I’d rather keep Alex and Red around for a little longer to keep us safer from the Hive and the Fallen.” Sloane frowned a little.

    Alex didn’t even need to think to come up with an answer, “I’ll bet the others can get there before we can. Edna, if you can get us a good radio signal to Earth, I can see if Sarah and Ash can make the journey there. They’re fast, they’ll get it done.” Ghost translated.

    “Sounds like a plan to me boss.” Edna smiled as she placed her hands on her hips, “All I ask is to be on the first ship out of this place with the rest of the group. We’re pretty sick of this place and we need to go check in on our buddy.”

    “That can be arranged.” Sloane agreed, “Do what you need to. Get those girls on their way and find Cayde.”

* * * *

    “AHAHAHA! MY FREINDS!”

   The next morning was met with a joyous occasion. That morning, leading a crew of refugees, the large man behind the Crucible himself had walked through the gate. As soon as he laid eyes on Ash he was over there laughing and yelling as he always did. He was simply happy to see more Guardians alive and even better, with their light.

   “Oi, Shaxx! Good to see you’re still kicking!” Ash called as she bounced right over to him.

   “Hah! It’ll take more than losing my light to put me in the ground! It seems that the same goes for you! You even got your light back! You my friend live up to your name!”

   “Well not just me…” Ash glanced over to the barn, “A few of us got it back.”

  “That, Ash, is some of the best news I’ve heard in a while. These people even seem to be in better spirits around here. Judging from those boxes and containers,” he pointed at the largest barn where people were sorting through things scouts and the Hunters brought back, “things are going well.”

    “I’d say so, but I need to get out there and start kicking Cabal ass. These scouting missions help but…”

    “Believe me, I understand.” Shaxx clapped his hand on her shoulder, and she swore he nearly broke it from the force. It took everything she had not to scream at the top of her lungs from the pain, “We need a plan to bring the fight to the Red Legion!”

     “Is that Shaxx?” The two of them turned as Ash bit down on her lower lip to see Cid walking up to them.

    “Cid! My friend!” Shaxx called as he walked over to the Warlock. Ash on the other hand quickly slipped away, letting high pitched screech between her teeth once she was far enough and her ghost could heal the bruise.

     Cid didn’t even need to ask why Ash was quickly walking the other direction holding her shoulder. He had been the victim of a shoulder clap from Shaxx, but luckily the metal didn’t give too much. Everyone had been the victim of a Shaxx shoulder clap at least once, and if they hadn’t yet, they must’ve either been new or an awful person.

     “Good to see you Shaxx.”

    “The feeling is mutual! I’m glad to see more good Guardians are still with us. Tell me, you friend that was with you at the tower, did he also make it?”

    “Yeah, he did. He’s trying to bring Zavala and other Guardians back here.”

    “Wonderful! I’m telling you, this is the best news I’ve heard in these last few days!” Cid watched Shaxx raise his hand up to clap him on the shoulder and mentally braced himself for the pain that strangely didn’t come. Instead Hawthorne’s voice seemed to stop Shaxx in his tracks.

    “Oi! You four! Get over to the radio! Your friend’s trying to call us!” she bellowed. Cid already knew who she was referring to.

    “We can talk later Shaxx.” Cid told him and quickly ran towards the medical tent to find Gale. He doubted she heard Hawthorne call and he didn’t want to end up with a Shaxx sized dent in his shoulder again.

    The four of them surrounded Hawthorne’s radio as static filled the voice on the other side. It took them a bit of time, but they managed to clear it, and the familiar sound of Alexander’s Ghost rang through.

    “Hello? Is this working?” he asked.

    “It’s working. Good to hear from you again. The gang’s all here.” Hawthorne told him.

    “Great! Well, not great, everything is definitely not great. We’re actually in a lot of trouble.”

    Sarah frowned, “What is it now?”

    “Well… Cid remember way back at the tower when you were wondering why the Cabal hadn’t tried to blow us sky high yet since that’s how they usually do things?”

    “Yeah…” Cid raised a brow, “Where are you going with this.”

    Ghost began to fill everyone in on the current situation. They all looked at each other, mortified. They had no idea that their time was quickly running out, and this thing could blow them sky high at any moment. There was no coming back from something like that. It was going to destroy every planet, creature, and ghost in the blast’s radius, and they were well within it.

     “So what do we do?” Gale finally asked.

     “We do have a plan. We need to take out the Almighty. Zavala is fitting up Guardians right now with everything we have from this archaeology and we’ll be coming to the farm soon. However, we’re still missing Cayde and Ikora. We have a huge signal coming from a Centaur on the fringes of the system, and it sounds like Cayde’s Ghost. Though for what reason he would be out there, I have no idea.”

    “How long are you guys going to be?” Sarah asked with scowl.

    “We still need to fix the ships and salavage things. My best guess is 2 days for the first of us to be getting out of here.”

    “We don’t have two days to be playing wait around for Cayde to get back or you to be able to get out there yourself.”

    “Well…” Hawthorne chewed her lower lip a little before deciding to make her suggestion, “We have more scouts, more people. You and Ash could go after him.”

    “He is our Vanguard, guess it makes sense that we go after his ass.” Sarah agreed, “If you think you’ll be fine without us out there scouting, we’ll go.”

    “I have no complaints here. If it means we get at those Cabal, I’m all for it.” Ash agreed.

    “I was hoping you two would say that.” Ghost translated.

    “We’ll get a move on then.” Sarah stood up straight, “Just give us directions and Ash and I will drag Cayde’s sorry ass back here.”

    “Let’s show these assholes we’re not going down without a fight.” Ash now also stood up straight, determination lining her features.

    “That’s the spirit! Sarah, Ash, I’ll tell you the coordinates. Everyone else, lets keep the farm running an make it not only a safe people for people, but the base for taking back what’s ours!” there was a pause for beeping from the Guardian before the Ghost spoke again, “Eyes up Guardians! Let’s bring everyone to the Farm and get back our home!”

   Gale smiled a little, “You’re starting to sound like Zavala.”

   “I… uh…” the Ghost stuttered. It also sounded like the Guardian himself was getting flustered in the back ground, “Let’s just get moving.”

   A few minutes later Sarah and Ash were taking off for Nessus. As far as everyone knew, the Centaur should be empty, yet the Hunter Vanguard had found his way there. The two remaining watched them go and looked at each other. As much as Gale wanted to keep helping the injured, it was time to put down that mantel for now and help her friend keep the people safe. It was time for Cid to shove his worries aside for now and take up the Dawnblade without fear.

    The Cabal would soon learn that these Guardians were a force not to be trifled with.


	11. Failsafe

    “Sooo, why do you think Cayde is all the out here?” Ash asked through the radio as they flew through space. They had never been this far from Earth, but they weren’t afraid of a little adventure, so long as it meant they didn’t die a horrible death.

    “No idea, other than he’s an idiot. He’s the kind of guy that thinks outside of the box, but I wonder if he thought a little too outside of it this time.” Sarah replied.

    “Alex’s Ghost said there shouldn’t be anything out there. Want to bet that there is something?”

    “Oh there’s absolutely something there.”

    The light went off on their ship’s dashboard as they dropped out of hyperspace. Into the atmosphere they flew and quickly found out that Nessus was not at all the icy rock it should have been, but instead had become a Vex paradise. Pillars of Vex tech covered in red grass, streams of Radiolaria (or Vex Milk as many others call it) running through like water, even puddles of normal water were present on the planet.

    “Nothing is here my ass… How the hell did we not know this was here?” Sarah asked.

    “You’re asking like you expect me to answer.” Ash grinned as she said that.

    “Ugh, let’s just get to a high spot and see if we can figure out where that signal is coming from.”

    They transmatted themselves down to one of those pillars and let their ships go find a parking spot. Sarah already had her ghost out trying to lock onto the signal. Ash quite liked Sarah’s Ghost. She was very timid, but really cared for her Guardian. It was odd though that she didn’t really have a name.

    “I think I got something!” she chirped from Sarah’s hand and started to play the audio. The voice was most certainly Cayde’s.

    “…in over my head! …Failsafe…? Vex Trap…?” was all they could hear through the static.

    “Vex trap?” Sarah scowled from behind her mask, “What the hell has that idiot gotten into this time?”

    “It’s coming from over there!” The ghost turned towards the ground. From their perch they could see a ship had crashed into the side of the cliff. It didn’t look like a city ship, even from a distance. That was certainly odd.

    “Well, let’s start climbing down…”

    When Sarah turned, she noticed her friend had instead decided to simply jump off the construct and fall down to the bottom, jumping at the last second in the air to save her bones from being shattered. Sarah sighed a little, letting her ghost transmat back into safety and following suit. So much for going the safer way.

    “You know, I never really fought much Vex before.” Ash mentioned as they started to walk towards the ship.

    “They’re not that hard. Shoot them in the torso where their juice box is and they explode.”

    “That’s uh… a really horrible design flaw for a race of robots.”

    “Big heads and tiny torsos, don’t ask me why they’re like that.”

    Once they were at the wreck, it seemed that Sarah suspicions were correct. The numbers on the tail read HH RS and a few other numbers. This wasn’t how city ships were numbered, and it seemed like this wreck had been here for a long time. As Ash began to climb up towards a small module on the outside, she quickly noticed that the wreck seemed to be a piece of something bigger, not just a tiny ship.

    “Hello!” the module suddenly called when Ash got near it, nearly startling the Hunter into falling off the ship, “Are you here to rescue the Cayde-6?” it asked.

    “Uh…. yes?” Ash answered. Sarah began climbing up as well, summoning her ghost to scan the signal so they didn’t have to sit next to the machine to talk with the strange woman’s voice.

    “The Cayde-6 is currently caught in a teleportation loop! He’s over there! Whoops! Now he’s over here! Oops!”

    “Uh…. ok?” Sarah answered. This wasn’t exactly what she was expecting when she said she’d find Cayde, but then again, usually nothing ever went according to plan. The two of them slid off of the wreck and down below, the two ghosts sharing the signal between them so they could keep listening to the woman, “This makes things a bit complicated.”

    “I can help you!” The voice chirped before there was a sound. The voice that spoke next was the same one, but was dripping in sarcasm, “ _But I’m going to be super unpleasant about it.”_

    “Wait, what?”

    “Now that I’ve found your friendly ghosts’ signals, I can upload his new coordinates to you!” The sound rang again,  _“Against my better judgement.”_

    The two hunters looked at each other and then to their ghosts, “Uh… ok? Thank you?” Sarah was at a loss for words.

    “Well, this suddenly got a lot more interesting.” Ash commented.

    “As if being in a Vex utopia trying to find our Vanguard before we all get blown up wasn’t interesting enough.”

    The two ghosts lead the way forward with the hunters following. The guns were at the ready just in case, but it seemed for now it would be a peaceful walk through the valley.

    “May I help you with anything else?” the voice called again.

    “Yeah, who are you and… are you ok?” Sarah asked.

    “I am the Exodus Black’s Failsafe! Call me Failsafe! I boosted the Cayde-6’s signal in hopes he would be rescued, and look! Here you two are!”

    “Wait, does that make you a Golden Age AI or something?” Sarah asked, “The Exodus Black… sounds like a ship name.”

     “Want to bet that wreck back there is part of the ship?” Ash nudged Sarah’s shoulder a little.

    “Most likely.”

    “In any case, I like her!” Ash smiled beneath her mask, “My name’s Ash! Grumpy over here is Sarah. Nice to meet you Failsafe!”

   “I’m not grumpy.”

   “Not yet you’re not.”

   “A pleasure to meet you both! I think I already like you two better than the Cayde-6!” Failsafe chirped.

   “Well that’s not hard…” Sarah mumbled.

    Further in the valley they jogged to try and get to Cayde. It was a strange world, full of red low lying vegetation and strangely shaped trees. The walls seemed to have perfect spheres jutting out of them, and everywhere they looked there was more and more Vex technology.

   They jumped down into a hole, landing gracefully in the soft dirt. It was dark in there, lit up only by a few Lights from the machinery around them. There was a strange glow over a small mound. Once the two climbed over it, they could see their Vanguard free floating, surrounded the cubes Vex technology was often associated with.

    “Oi! Cayde!” Ash called as she slid over the other side with Sarah on her heels.

    “Ash? That you?” he asked as he looked around and finally finding them in the dark, “Sarah too?”

    “Yeah, it’s us! What the bloody hell did you…?” Sarah started to say but was cut off.

    “Listen, listen, listen, don’t ask how this happened! I don’t have time to explain what I don’t have time to understand-!”

    It was at that point Cayde suddenly vanished into thin air. There was a sound, a sound similar to a war cry that filled the room.

    “Warning! The Vex will try to vapourize you!” Failsafe rang through the ghosts who hid themselves at the first sign of danger.

    “Thanks for the info!” Sarah rolled her eyes as she raised her gun to shoot at the Vex that were coming out of the teleporter. The girls were much more experienced than the Titans, and had very little trouble taking out the small wave that walked through. Ash was also probably having a little more fun than she should’ve been making the Vex explode by shooting their torsos.

     “So how did he manage this one Failsafe?” Sarah asked once the Vex were cleared out and the ghosts could come out of hiding.

    “The Cayde-6 tried to manipulate the Vex portal system! He’s now trapped in a nonlinear loop! In my defense, I tried to warn him.” The sound went off,  _“He’s like… not that smart.”_

    “Tell me about it…” Sarah sighed.

     “I knew I liked you two!”

     “I guess all we can do at this point is go after him.” Ash shrugged, “I mean, a Vex Teleporter might be our ticket onto the command ship.”

    Sarah seemed to have a moment of realization, “That’s probably exactly what he was trying to do. Grab a teleporter and take down Ghaul. That idiot! He doesn’t have his Light, he would’ve been obliterated!”

    Ash didn’t say anything to that, because her plan had been pretty similar even when they didn’t have their powers.

    “Well, we’re not going to find him by standing around here.”

    Further and deeper into the cavern they ran now. Some spaces began to get quite narrow and at times it seemed to close in on them. It was getting darker as well as they squeezed through a few tight places to keep moving forward.

    “Hey Failsafe, how long have you been here?” Ash asked as she crawled beneath another construct.

    “Long enough to see the Vex convert this entire planetoid! They killed all living organisms, formatted molecules, and digitized brain waves for further study! It’s a fascinating process!”

    “Sooo… a very long time.”

    “She sounds way too excited about that…” Sarah mumbled.

    They crawled out of the tight space and found themselves taken aback. They hadn’t realized they had dove so deep into the planetoid. Here they had a clear view of Nessus’ core and all of the rock and debris surrounding it in a vast empty void. It looked like the eye of a Vex mind, monitoring the entire planet and its functions.

    “Wow… ok.” Sarah was again at a loss for words, “And I wonder how these things bend time and space.”

    “Wait, they do what now?” Ash asked.

    “You didn’t know? The Vex can manipulate time and space, hence the conversion of planets.”

    “So… they can time travel back to the past…”

    “Don’t think about it too much, you’ll give yourself a headache and then some.” Sarah turned towards the wall on their right, planning out a way to cross the massive gap. There was a small pause between them before she added, “I’m kind of jealous actually.”

    “Jealous?” Ash asked, tilting her head.

    “Do you know what I would give to turn back the clock… to see what happened back then at the very least?”

     Ash didn’t need to answer that nor ask. They both already knew. Ash quietly hoped as they climbed down along the wall that all of her search results had survived the blast. She was going to show Sarah just before everything happened, but didn’t get the chance. She should tell her now honestly, but perhaps later would be a better time.

    There was silence between the two as they finally came to flat solid ground. There was an army of Vex there of course, and they were not too impressed when the girls showed up. The Minotaurs began to storm towards them with Goblins at their sides, but Sarah had a solution for that.

    The tether flew and landed right in the middle of the crowd, snatching everything it could. The girls made quick work of them with their weapons, and in only a matter of minutes, the space had been cleared.

    “You are good at destroying the Vex! Much better than my crew was!” Failsafe piped up.

    “I almost don’t want to ask,” Sarah glanced towards the core again before finishing her sentence, “but Failsafe, what happened to your crew?”

    “Only my captain can access those memories!  _And he’s super dead…._ ”

    “Aw, I’m sorry Failsafe.” Ash frowned a little behind her mask.

    “Your sympathy is appreciated!” Failsafe chirped.

    Deeper and deeper they went, further and further down. At this point, Sarah had no idea how they were going to get back to the surface. As they drew closer, they could see a Vex Gate that was still on. Failsafe started to tell them to go through there, and that it was safe, but the girls already had gone through at that point. It had been a bit reckless, but as far as they were concerned, so long as they didn’t try to change the direction of the portals, they should be fine.

    The quickly came to a large circular room with light streaming down it. They jumped inside, and it slowly descended onto a platform. Sure enough, there was Cayde, dangling in the air away from the safety of the platform, trying to get out of his free floating state.

    “Hey you two! Over here! Get me out of here!” Cayde shouted.

    “And how exactly…?” Sarah started to ask but felt Ash suddenly tugging on her cape. She glanced over to where she was pointing to see a Vex Hydra starting to manifest nearby.

    “Wait, is that a Hydra?” Cayde called, looking over to where Ash was pointing, “Yeah! Deal with that first!”

    Sarah turned around to see smaller Vex were also starting to appear, “Ash if you can deal with the big guy, I’ll keep these ones off of you.”

    “Sounds like a plan to me!” Ash called back. The two split off as Ash began to shoot at the Hydra with her trusty handcanon. She could tell this wasn’t going to be the easiest job, since it had three shields around it, but as long as she shot the gaps and the creature, she would be able to do it. Of course there was the problem of it shooting at her. She ran side to side, behind cover, dodging shots as best as she could, even though she was nicked a few times.

    “Hey! You’re doing great! I think….” Cayde called to her.

    “Shut up Cayde…” she mumbled. She was trying to concentrate and it wasn’t the easiest thing to do when she could also hear the carnage in the back ground and was avoiding being shot. Once she finally had a clear view and a good gap, she summoned forth her Golden Gun, and shot it three times in the eye, causing it to teeter and spark.

    “Now that’s just not fair! You’re just showing off now!” Cayde shouted.

    “All is fair in war Cayde!” Ash shouted as she put her gun back on her hilt and instead pulled out her sword. The Hydra teetered forward, floating over the safety of the ground instead of the void around it. Ash took the time to leap up into the air and bring her sword down through its head. The creature fell over, letting out a few loud beeps before self destructing. The force knocked Ash over. Luckily by then, Sarah had cleared away the rest of the Vex.

    “Good job you two! Now get over here before I disappear again! Come on! I don’t know how long this is gonna stick!” he called.

    “So do you want to explain to me how the fuck…?” Sarah started to point at him and start a rant as she came closer, but he cut her off again.

    “S-Stop, stop, stop. Look I know it doesn’t look like I know what I’m doing, but I do! Well maybe not, doesn’t matter! Killing the power source at the origin point should break the loop and get me out of the portal system. Have you got that?” he asked, but kept talking before either of them could answer, “Say you’ve got that! Say something!”

    They both decided instead to stay silent for a moment. He looked between the two of them and seemed like he was ready to grab his horn and pull it out. As far as the two girls were concerned, he deserved it for not letting them answer in the first place.

    “So how the fuck did you…?” Sarah finally spoke up.

    “OH MY COTTON SOCKS! DID YOU NOT HEAR WHAT I JUST SAID!?” he bellowed before disappearing again. The two girls looked at each other.

    “Is this why he never leaves the Tower?” Ash asked.

    “Pretty much, yes…” Sarah sighed.

* * * *

    It was a long climb back to the surface. Failsafe was a great guide, but there was a lot of jumping through portals and crawling through tiny places. It was a great relief to be back in the open air again after all of that. Even Ash who was used to squeezing into small spaces to pull off her pranks was getting a little claustrophobic.

    Back outside again they walked along the path towards the Cistern as Failsafe called it. Sarah assumed these paths were here because they were beaten in by waking Vex, but she also didn’t care to think about it too long. She was much more concerned with getting Cayde out of this mess and getting back to Earth.

    “Ok Failsafe, we’re here.” Ash called through Chie, “Now we just need to find where this teleporter is so we can get Cayde out.”

    “Oh yes!” Failsafe chirped, “I can guide you there! Let’s see…” there was a short pause, “Here we are! I’ve located the point of origin! Here you are friendly ghosts and friendly ladies!”

    “Thanks Failsafe,” Sarah smile a bit behind her mask, “You’re a pretty nice AI.”

    “Wait, did I hear a Sarah compliment?” Ash asked, “Oh man, Failsafe you are one very special AI to be hearing a Sarah compliment.”

    “Well then, I appreciate the comment even more!” Failsafe sounded rather proud of herself.

    Sarah rolled her eyes, “Oi, it isn’t that rare. Come on, let’s go get him out of this.”

    Unfortunately the best way for them to get there was through more tight places. Into the cliff they squeezed their way past the constructs and stopped dead in their tracks when it opened up into an underground stream of Radiolaria.

    “Wait, is this the stuff that’s in the Vex?” Ash asked.

    “Mhmm. Radiolaria, Vex Mind Fluid, Vex Milk, call it what you will, this shit is acidic as hell and charged.” Sarah explained as she jumped to the other side where there was solid ground, “Don’t step in it.”

    She didn’t need to be told twice. Usually when a strange liquid lit up the entire room, it was a sign that something was terribly wrong with it. She followed Sarah’s lead, jumping rock to rock to avoid stepping into the corrosive liquid. She felt a small urge every now and then to pull back on Sarah’s cape to keep her from making a more dangerous jump. She hadn’t forgotten that day by the waterfall, and she made sure to be within arm’s reach.

    Up and over through a hole at the end of the stream they found more solid ground to stand on, but more Vex to meet them there. The Harpies floated in, all beeping some nonsense or other, but getting shot down quickly. After she met Alex, Sarah did wonder every now and then if the Vex spoke in morse code themselves in their own language, but since they were always trying to kill them, she never wondered for too long.

     Especially not now as they dove a little deeper in to find a sea of Vex waiting for them.

    “Oooookay…” Ash raised her brows behind her mask, “You take left, I take right?” She asked.

    “Sounds good to me.”

    What followed was a wave of Vex that came at them from every angle. Fanatics (or suicide bombers as Sarah thought of them) were on the march towards them, the Goblins were right on their tails, shooting at both Guardians who were concentrated on killing the bombers before they got too close. It wasn’t so much the skill that was the problem, but the sheer numbers that seemed to flood in as they tried to avoid death at every turn. Ash jumped behind cover to reload her weapon for a moment, when out of seemingly no where she heard a loud shriek. She only had a moment to turn around and look at the Fanatic that just showed up right beside her before it blew her up and the tiny ghost was shouting, “Guardian Down!”

   “Damn it…!” Sarah hissed between her teeth, feeling the pain in her chest flare up once Ash went down. She rolled out of the way of another blast from the Vex and jumped over the small army to get to the other side of the room. There was a Goblin there already trying to hurt the small panicking Chie trying to hide. It was instead greeted with Sarah’s knife in its face. She stood in front of Chie, buying her time to resurrect her Guardian.

    “Ow…” Ash mumbled as she got up, “Fucker came out of nowhere…”

    “Have I mentioned I hate the Vex?” Sarah asked, not bothering to ask if Ash was alright. She knew she was now: Sarah felt the pain go away.

    “I don’t think so?” Ash shot a few more coming at them from the other side.

    “I really hate the Vex. Why do you think I stuck with the Fallen on Earth?”

    “Well you have numerous reasons for that.”

    “This is one of them. Listen there’s no more suicide bombers on my side, yours?”

    “Nope.”

    “Void Arrow and Sword?”

    Ash grinned ear to ear behind her mask, reaching down for the hilt of her sword, “Void Arrow and Sword.”

    Sarah leaped up over the cover they were using, bow drawn already, aimed down in the middle of the group. It snatched every Vex it could, and they had no chance to survive Ash’s sword. She was quick, striking down each one where they stood, and finally clearing the room.

    “And that’s how we do things!” Ash cheered, raising her sword in the air in celebration.

    “I thought your wholesale destruction of the Vex would make me miss my crew less.” Failsafe suddenly chirped.

    “Did it?” Ash asked, lowering her sword. Though really, she already knew the answer.

    “It did not.”

    Sarah gave a humourless chuckle, “It really doesn’t. Believe me, I know.”

    “You sound like you lost someone important too.” The sound rang again,  _“Does it… you know… ever get better?”_

    “I’m… really the wrong person to ask.”

    Ash could see how Sarah’s shoulders sunk a little at the mentioning of it. After that day by the waterfall, she had been keeping a closer eye on Sarah, just in case. Every time those shoulders sank down like that and her posture went from straight to slumped, Ash would pull off something to cheer her up. Some weird prank to make her laugh, or something as a distraction, but she couldn’t do any of that here.

    So she gave just Sarah a small nudge, “Come on, just a little further I think. We can get Cayde out, then head back to earth and see if we can find some drinks, ok?”

    Sarah gave a small nod, straightened up, and decided not to talk about it anymore.

    Up a set of stairs through another tight hallway they finally found it. Floating above a small rock the opened object was projecting thousands of bright write cubes, a signature of active Vex technology. The two looked at each other and gave a nod. It didn’t seem like there was any other way to deactivate it other than to pry it off of its stand. It didn’t seem to want to go at first, but with a little pulling and both of them working at it, it came off of the pedestal and closed up. Instantly they could hear their Vanguard celebrating his freedom through the Ghosts.

    “Take that baby! I’m out! Out! Woot!” he cheered.

    “Oi! Idiot in the cloak! Where are you?” Sarah shouted back.

    “Hey! You did it! Hah Hah…! And uh… wh-where am I?”

    “Cayde unit, you are near the remains of my reactor core.” Failsafe happily told him, “Welcome to the Exodus Black!  _Where all your dreams come true…”_

    Ash couldn’t help but laugh a little even as Sarah heaved out a tired sigh. At least the Exodus Black should be relatively safe. Sarah quietly handed the teleported to her ghost to place in transmat. They started to make their way back out to the outside, which was a much shorter walk when there wasn’t so many Vex to deal with.

    “Uh oh.” They heard Cayde over the radio, “The Fallen got the Vex in a tizzy, and by tizzy I mean murderous rampage.”

    “Fallen? When the hell did those asshats get here?” Sarah asked.

    “Don’t know, maybe they followed you or me.”

    “Probably you.”

    “Riiiiight. In any case, I think I’ll hunker down in the Exodus Black.”

    “In here?” Failsafe asked, “But, my hull is in 108 pieces! Decks 1-20 are buried! And my cooling system…” The sound rang out again,  _“Ughhhh, I am a mess.”_

    “Oh we know Failsafe, we know.” Cayde chided.

    “Ugh, just hang in there alright? We’re coming.” Sarah shouted, “Failsafe, try to keep him out of trouble to the best of your abilities.”

“Of course!  _But I make no promises_.”

    They ran towards the direction their Ghosts pointed to as fast as their legs would carry them. Sarah held the teleporter in her arms, making Ash the only one with a gun and slowing them down. As they drew closer, they could see a full on battle between the two factions.

    “Is it too much to ask that they just kill each other?” Sarah mumbled.

    “But then you’d miss out on all the fun!” Cayde called through.

    “Can we please sneak around them?” Sarah looked to Ash. Ash was all for going in guns blazing and taking both sides down a notch, but Sarah didn’t sound like she wanted to deal with it. It was enough to make Ash back down.

    “Well, we can try.”

    The battle field was actually the remains of the Exodus Black’s massive hull. Ship pieces were scattered every which way and made it easier for the girls to sneak around the fight. Once over the hill they slipped down the other side out of the range of fire.

    “Ok, got out of that. Hang on you two, we’re almost there!” Ash called.

    “Uh that’s good to hear! Cause the Fallen just found us!” Cayde shouted back.

    “Activating shields! The Cayde unit must step back!” Failsafe piped up.

    “Hey, nice one Failsafe! They can’t get us now, “Cayde paused for a moment, “That uh… this is right though right…? They can’t get us?”

    “I somehow have more faith in an AI that lives in a dilapidated boat than you Cayde at this moment.” Sarah growled at him.

    “Ouch Sarah, you’re breaking my heart over here.” There was a sound of crashing on the other end, “Uh, you might want to hustle. I think they said something about ripping my horn off my face? My beautiful, beautiful horn?”

    Though another broken section of the ship they could see the massive hulking structure of the reactor core and the boosters that once flew the craft through the air, but now was sitting and collecting rust. They could see a blue energy shield had been placed around the gaping hole and the Fallen seemed very insistent on getting inside.

    “So how are we going to handle this?” Sarah asked as they crouched down behind another piece of broken ship.

    “Have you found any rounds for your sniper?” Ash asked.

    “No.”

    Ash pursed her lips as she tried to think, “Well, I could go in guns blazing, take out the big guy at least. You could sneak around them and take out the little guys.”

    “So the opposite of what we normally do.”

    “Pretty much, yeah.”

    “Worth a shot.”

    Ash leaped out over cover and ran towards the Fallen. While shots rang out, Sarah quietly slipped around the outside and found some brush to crouch behind. She took out her knife and snuck up to one of the Dregs trying to keep their distance as they shot at the biggest distraction. It didn’t have a clue until it was much too late that Sarah was there as she quickly plunged the knife into its neck, silencing it instantly. She was quick to get anything Ash couldn’t get, and for a while it seemed like the army wouldn’t have a clue who was picking them off one by one.

    At least until she felt cold hands grab her from behind. She had been so focused on working to get their numbers down she hadn’t realized one of them had caught on and snuck up on her from behind. She felt her body suddenly pressed against another, its awful breath whistling in her ear, but the Maurader couldn’t stop her from yelling for help.

    “ASH! ASH! HELP M-!” Sarah’s voice was suddenly cut off by an awful gurgling sound. Ash looked up to see the Maurader had sliced Sarah’s neck open and left her to bleed out on the ground. She felt the pain flare up in her chest when the ghost shouted that her Guardian was down. Gritting her teeth, she holstered her gun and drew her sword.

    “YOU’LL PAY FOR THAT ASSHOLE!” Ash bellowed as she left the Captain for now and ran at all of the smaller Fallen trying to get at Sarah’s ghost. She sliced through them without hesitation, faster than before, glaring daggers at them from behind her mask. She never had Sarah die on her before on a mission, and even though she could be resurrected, it still pissed her off that they did that to her.

    The smaller ones were cleared out, but now the Captain was charging at her. She supposed it thought it stood a chance to stop her murderous rampage. All he was greeted with was a Golden Gun, and three powerful shots to the face. The Gunslinger was angry, and that anger only fuelled the fire she relished in. It stood no chance.

   It was finally silent, and the terrified ghost was finally able to resurrect her Guardian who gave a cough and splutter as she got up.

  “Agh… mother fucker…” Sarah cursed as she got on her feet again. She then noticed the carnage around her and seemed a bit taken aback.

  “What?” Ash shrugged, “Asshats killed you. I killed them back.”

   “That you did…”

   “You have saved us!” Failsafe cheered, “Updating my crew log!” The two girls watched as the shield went down and a satisfied smile came to both of their faces. Sarah walked over to the brush and pulled out the teleporter, carrying it towards the entrance.

   “New Captain and Chief Officer added! Welcome aboard Captain Ash and Chief Officer Sarah!”

  “Wait, Captain? I’m Captain of the Exodus Black now?!” Ash started to bounce up and down a little.

  “You’re captain of a crashed ship…” Sarah reminded her as she held out her hand. Her ghost transmatted the teleported right into it, “And why am I Chief Officer?”

   “I think she likes me better! Woo! Captain Ash of the Exodus Black!” Ash jumped up and down in excitement. Sarah shook her head a little as they went further inside what was let off the hall. Inside on their right they could see a large machine mounted into the wall that slowly turned away. Behind a small control panel, they could see a very happy ghost (even though it seemed quite weak) peeking out over it.

    “Hey! Hey! Down!” Cayde hissed and pushed it down under cover. He popped his head up to see the two girls standing there. Seeing that it was safe now, he climbed over the panel he was hiding behind. “So… the Light found its way back to you two… not that I’m jealous or nothing just you know… take it easy out there, you’re making me look bad.”

    “Ugh.” Sarah grumbled as she tossed the teleporter at him. He caught it and set it down on the floor to tinker with it more. She then took off her mask and hood, seeing it was a safe area to do so, just so that way he could see her face when she was scowled. Ash followed suit, but mostly because she didn’t really want the mask on anymore.

    “I already get the feeling I know, but I have to ask. Why the hell were you messing with that teleporter anyways?” Sarah asked with a raised brow. She handed her mask to her ghost to place in transmat before folding her arms across her crest.

    “Get up close and personal with Ghaul, put a bullet in his head…. and then maybe eat a sandwich.” Cayde gave a small shrug at the sandwich part, “Just gotta work out a few kinks first… Fun fact about the Vex tech! Not as intuitive as you’d think!”

    Sarah rolled her eyes, “You really think it’s going to be that easy? If it was, Ash and I would’ve done it already. We scouted around the Last City; it’s a death trap. Teleporter or not, once you get on that ship they’ll blow you to pieces, and there’s no coming back. You can’t do this by yourself.”

   “The hell I can’t…OUCH!” Cayde let out a small cry as the teleporter sparked and shocked his hand.

  “Listen, this is SARAH of all people telling you working alone is a bad idea.” Ash motioned to her friend, “And besides, we have bigger problems. Even if you managed to somehow pull that stunt off, that’s not our biggest problem. Those asshats leave nothing behind in a system when they leave it!”

   “The Cabal are bad people who do bad things, I get it.” Cayde quietly tossed a small piece aside that was probably important…

   “No, I don’t think you do!” Sarah raised her voice, “The Cabal, LITERALLY, leave nothing behind! They have a star destroyer and it’s pointing at our sun, and when that fucker goes off, boom! That’s it, we’re done!”

   “Hey! Hey! Hey! Easy!” Cayde waved at her to try and calm her down as he stood up, picking up the teleporter with him, “You’re going to give yourself a stroke.”

   Ash put a hand on Sarah’s shoulder to try and keep her from decking Cayde in the face, “Look the point is, the Almighty is the bigger problem. Zavala has a plan, and he needs you Cayde.”

   “Well Zavala always says he has a plan, but sometimes he just…” Cayde stopped midsentence, “Wait… Zavala, says he needs me?” He started to walk towards them, pointing at both of them, “As in you heard those very words come out of his mouth?”

   “Yes, well, Alex did, but yes.” Ash replied.

  “PLEASE TELL ME HE RECORDED IT!” he seemed to get rather excited, but the mood dropped when the two girls looked at each other and back at him in silence, “Well did Ikora at least hear it?”

  “Yeah, funny thing about that.” Ash’s gaze turned towards the floor for a moment before looking back up at him, “No one’s seen her since the City fell. We have no idea where she is. Look, you know her a lot better than we do. Do you have any idea where she could have gone?”

  Cayde’s mood suddenly went sombre. He looked down for a moment, seemingly in thought before, “Io….” he looked back up at them, his voice devoid of his usual cheer and wit, “Io. It’s where’d she go for answers.”

   “Answers to what?” Sarah asked.

  “Anything really. No offense, but if she’s there, she’s going to need a… gentler push to come back. And Sarah, you’re not good at that. Ash, well…”

   “None taken.” Sarah replied and looked at Ash, “I don’t know her well, you?”

   “Not really. But I’ll bet our Warlock friends do. Cid’s been around and working with them for a long time, and Gale’s a lot nicer.”

    “Wait, more people got their Light back?” Cayde asked.

    “Six of us did, long story. You think that’ll work though, sending those two after her?” Sarah looked back at him.

   “It’s probably our best bet. If you and I are thinking the same people, Cid and Ikora aren’t on the best of terms, but they’ve pushed that aside before, and Gale seems like someone who could calm down an angry Voidwalker, if she is angry.”

   “It sounds like you all have a much better plan then the Cayde-6’s original plan!” Failsafe suddenly spoke up. They all looked to the machine at the end of the wall that was lighting up with her words.

   “You were listening to the entire thing, weren’t you?” Sarah asked.

   “I was! And I think you and the Captain have a good idea! It is also a pleasure to meet you both in person!”

   Ash smiled and walked a little closer, waving at her, “And it’s nice to meet you too Failsafe!”

   “Yeah.” Sarah gave a smaller wave.

   “I know you two are most likely leaving soon, but should you return, I would be more than happy to assist with combating the Vex!” There was that sound again, and the yellow turned orange,  _“We could steal their stuuuuuff.”_  She then reverted back to yellow, “That was a joke! Stealing is wrong!”

   Ash giggled, “Don’t worry, we’re not against stealing if it’s from Vex and other assholes.”

   “Good! I agree! The Vex are alien monsters, standard moral parameters do not apply!  _It’s not murder if it’s Robots!”_

   “And with that I think I’m going to leave…” Cayde started to shuffle away.

   “Please come visit me again Captain and Chief!  _Everyone I have ever known is dead, and their bones are dust._ I’m very lonely!”

   “Don’t worry Failsafe, we’ll be back! Right Sarah?” Ash looked over to her friend.

   “Once we’re not all in immediate danger, then yeah, we’ll come back. I kind of like being a chief.”

   “Yes!” Ash cheered, “But first thing’s first! Failsafe, since there’s an active radio in Titan we can bounce off of, do you think we can get to earth? We need to talk to our Warlock friends.”

   “Of course! I’d be happy to help Captain!”

   “Well, this didn’t turn out so bad after all I’d say.” Sarah started to smile a little and look around.

   “Yeah… and uh, hey.” Cayde called to both of them and they turned around, “Thanks… I owe you two one.”

   “Whiskey and Beer at the bar once it’s rebuilt?” Sarah asked.

   “You’re on.” Cayde waved to them as he walked out. They both looked back at Failsafe, and each other. This had been quite the adventure, but now it was some else’s turn. They found their Vanguard, now it was time to find the last one, and hopefully put an end to Ghaul’s reign of Terror.


	12. A Stormcaller and a Sunbreaker

    “Oh man, does it feel good to get the hell out of here.”

    For the last little while, Alex had been helping to load up the ships. It had been interesting to talk to other Guardians who saw him in a different light now. There were far less people considering him a child now, but others were still bitter that they didn’t have their Light back when Alexander did. There was a quiet agreement among them however, that Zavala did make a bad call that killed a lot of people.

   He now sat beside Edna who was taking a short break from loading up the ships. Her hair was tied back into a long braid she tucked under her hunter cloak now, out of the way while she had been working.

   “How long were you guys here before we showed up?” Ghost asked.

   “Too long.” The Awoken looked up with those bright pink eyes, “Too long trying to fight a useless battle. I’m a believer in fighting until you get it, but you also need to know when to quit. I think we’ve been immortal for too long; we’ve forgotten how to do just that.”

  “You’d think we’d learn by now.” Ghost translated.

  “Yeah. Then again, it took a lot of tries before we took down that bastard Oryx. Even then, I’m not sure if we’ve seen the last of him.”

    “What do you mean?”

    “Don’t worry about it. It’s just kinda hard when the guy pops up in your nightmares to really feel like he’s gone. Then of course, us Awoken have weird prediction powers.”

    “Weird prediction powers?”

    “You didn’t know? Awoken, even without being Guardians, have some weird space magic powers. One of them is visions in our dreams. It’s not everyone who gets em, but some Awoken get some crazy visions about the future. The problem with them is that you have to decipher nightmare from reality. It’s really annoying from what I’ve heard, and plus a lot of Guardians get nightmares, so it’s hard to tell whether or not they’re predicting the next calamity or they’re having a really bad week.”

   “Did you get a dream about the Cabal invading?”

  “No… nothing. If I had weird prediction powers: A) Lakshmi would be all over me and B) I probably would’ve predicted the last, oh I don’t know, five calamities I was a part of.”

   “Fair point.”

   There was silence between them for a moment before she looked over at Alex, “So is it true? When you were resurrected you remembered like, absolutely nothing?”

   “It’s true. I remember having to explain what water was to him.” Ghost chirped. Alexander shook his head a little in embarrassment.

   “Man, that’s super weird. Maybe you smashed your head off of a rock in your last life and it caused a total reset. Paul’s been reset 7 times in his last life apparently, doesn’t remember shit about those lives, but he at least knew what water was.”

   “Not to mention my strange voice box.” Ghost translated.

   “It is weird, but it certainly makes you one of a kind.” Edna smiled a little, “I mean, we Guardians usually don’t remember stuff from our last lives, but it really doesn’t matter in the end.”

   “It doesn’t bother you that you don’t remember?”

   “I’d be lying if I said it didn’t for a time. I woke up in the ruins of a ship scared out my mind with a Ghost telling me I should start walking to some city. All the way there I kept wondering you know: how did I get there, who I was, what was even my name? Then I met Marlene.” She smiled a little, “Bless her heart. That Titan has… had… a heart of gold. Introduced me to the boys and the rest was history. I started calling myself Edna, it just felt right. We had a long conversation one night trying to remember our past, but we all realized it didn’t really matter. We are who we are, we’re out there protecting people and living our lives out as Guardians, and we found friends with each other. We were there for each other, through hell and high water we never gave up on each other no matter how bad it got.”

   “Did it get bad? How bad?”

   “Like…” she chewed on her lower lip a bit, “At one point, we thought we’d lose one of us. Not to death but… never mind, you don’t need to know.”

   “Is that why you’re afraid to tell the truth?”

   Edna’s eyes narrowed at them, and Alexander felt like he was dead on point. Unfortunately, that only made him worry more.

   “That’s a story for another time. The point is, you’ve got a lot to be looking forward too, instead of looking back and trying to decipher an age old puzzle.”

   “…you have a point. I just wish I could get rid of this nagging feeling I’ve forgotten something important. Like I… I don’t know.”

   “Well… Light willing you’ll figure it out, but don’t get your head too stuck in the clouds there.”

   “Yeah… thank you. You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

   The two of them glanced up at the sound of someone calling people over, “I think that’s our cue. Let’s get off this ocean of a planet.”

   He nodded and stood up. He certainly wanted to get out of here as fast as he could, and certainly had much to mull over.

* * * *

    She was once a Sunsinger.

    When she was first revived and first successfully called upon her light, the woman made flames dance about her as she got so excited to finally succeed. Her teacher had praised her then. After a time however, as she learned to remain calm in the face of adversity (similar how she had been trained to be calm when emergencies occurred in her other work place) she drew her powers from the void instead as calm as she could be. Ikora took notice, and told her about the Stormcallers.

   It was all about balance she told Gale. To have the fury of the storm, there must also be a calm eye. To let emotion run through you but not consume you: a conduit between heaven and earth. Breathe in, feel the calm and serene of the moment before the storm hits, then breathe out, and let the electricity fly and the thunder boom. She had little time to practice being a Stormcaller, her second job made sure of that, but now she did have time in the evenings. Stormcallers were common in the days of the Iron Lords, and if there was ever a time they were needed, it was now.

   She sat down on her knees on a dock not too far away from the Farm, eyes closed, tuning out the world around her. To find that sweet balance was difficult. To be calm, yet unleashing the wrath of heaven upon her foes? Not easy. Voidwalkers become too calm and cryptic, Sunsingers and Dawnblades were too loud and emotional. She could be either or at times, which made her a good candidate. At the same time, even if one had the potential, it was still difficult.

    Breathe in, calm, serene, let the energy fill her lungs, close her hands, feel at peace with the moment…

    Breathe out, energy flying, the storm she held inside of her left, her hands opened, allowing sparks of arc energy to be let out into the air, yet still be calm in the moment: controlled, yet not.

    And like that, the moment was over. She opened her eyes and saw the last few sparks fade away from her hands. That wasn’t her first time calling the storm through her body, but it was a more successful attempt.

    “Did you just…?”

    Gale let out a squeak and stood straight up. She turned towards the voice that started her to see Cid with his hands in front of him.

   “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.” He had just been looking for her to ask her something, but now he completely forgotten what it was. He had shown up just in time to see the sparks flowing through her entire body. He hadn’t ever seen that before. He heard of the Stormcallers, of course, but he never thought he would ever see one. He once did try to achieve it himself, but after the Thorn, he never tried again.

  “O-Oh, it’s ok.” She gave a nervous laugh, “Sorry I didn’t see you there.”

   “It’s fine. But more importantly… you just used Arc energy there.” He motioned to her hands.

  “Yeah, it’s uh… still a work in progress.” She looked down at them.

  “Gale, do you have any idea how long people try to become a Stormcaller and don’t even get a little spark?” Cid walked a little closer, “You just managed to call that through your entire body. Even if it was for a short time, that’s much more than what other people get.”

    She felt herself blush, her cheeks lighting up with that ambient shimmer that always ran across her skin. “Ah, I guess I’m doing good then?”

    He shook his head a little, “More than good Gale. If you don’t mind, can you show me how you did that?”

    She gave a small nod and turned to him, extending her hand. She at first created a little void orb, calm, yet dangerous. She looked at her little orb, took a deep breath in, and let it out. As she breathed out, the void began to glow, until it was no longer void in her hand, but a sparking ball of Arc energy. She opened her eyes, trying to keep it from going back to either the Void or Solar, letting the little orb show her emotions while she remained calm. She was the eye, while that orb was the storm.

    She was able to maintain it for a little longer before she ran out of steam and it vanished. For a moment she found herself a little light head and stumbled a little off to the side.

    “Hey! Easy…!” He grabbed onto her arm and pulled her back from the edge of the dock, “That was amazing. To hold it that long, and have that amount of control? How long have you been working at this?”

   “Off and on when I had time.” She replied once she was back on two feet, “I’ve been really trying to get it since Sarah and Ash left.”

  “That’s incredible.”

   She giggled and blushed a little more, “Thank you, but it’s not combat ready obviously… and it’s not like there’s much to practice on…”

   Cid thought for a moment, “I think I can arrange something.”

   Her eyes lit up a little, “What did you have in mind?”

   “Well, let’s head out into the field and I can make some targets.”

   The two of them walked off the dock, past the farm, and into the open field. He motioned her to wait for a moment and took a few steps ahead of her. He remembered his teachers doing this for him when he was just learning.  He held his hands close together and created a small ball of fire in his hands, letting it float off into the air. He then stepped a good distance away from it.

   “Try to hit it with the storm.” He instructed, “Get closer if you need to.”

   She gave a small nod. This seemed very familiar to her as well. It was an exercise to draw out the Light. The orbs were made of Light, and it attracted Light in other things. In her case it had been a calm Void orb she had practiced on back then, but now it was a gentle burning fire.

   She took a deep breath in and opened her hands. Sparks came out of her hands, but did not reach the orb. Trying not to be discouraged, she stepped a little closer and closer until the Arcs finally connected and destroyed the orb. By then, she had been quite close. Too close if she was facing a real enemy.

    Cid made another orb and placed it in the same spot, “Again.”

    Yes, this was very familiar. Practice made perfect. Doing it over and over again would be the only way she would get this, and get better. She had to work on her distance. She took a step back from the orb this time, and tried to make the arcs go further. She found herself standing on the tips of her toes to make it connect. All the while she had to keep her body and self calm, while letting out her emotions into that storm.

    She managed to get it from that distance after a short time. Another orb was made. Again, she shocked it after some time. Over and over they did this, his light helping to maintain hers for longer. It didn’t give her any boosts, but just allowed her to practice longer. An hour later, she had gotten a little further away, and a little stronger. By that time she nearly fell over from becoming light headed.

    “Whoa! Easy!” He ran up to her and caught her before she fell. “You ok?”

    She gave a small nod against his chest and looked up with a smile, “I’m fine. Just tired…”

    He gave a small smile, “I think we should call it a night. You’re doing great though Gale.”

    “Thank you.” She felt herself being picked up and she reached up to wrap her arms around his neck for support, “I can walk Cid…”

    “I know. But do you want to walk?” he asked, looking to the side to see her face instead of down.

    “…not really.”

    “That’s what I thought.”

    She let out a small laugh, “You’re clearly feeling better.”

    “Yeah…”

    “I’m glad…”

    He laughed a little, “You know, the last time I did this was because you passed out drunk.”

    “Muuu…” she quietly whined, “Don’t remind me…”

    “I just did.”

    She gave him a pouty look and the two of them laughed. For a moment, it almost felt like nothing had happened at all, and it was just another night for them in the tower. Almost.

    He walked back to the Farm and into the barn where the sleeping bags were set up. They found a spot with two sleeping bags in the corner and fell asleep there. There were no nightmares, no one dared to disturb them, and it made for some of the best sleep they had since the whole thing started.

* * * *

    The morning was full of song.

    To the tune of Drunken Sailor that, of course, was started by Stella, people worked away to keep the place running. Guns were being cleaned, loaded, and tested to make sure they still worked. Armor and clothes were in the works, major components were maintained. Hawthorne had begun to tap her foot to the beat as the Songstress raised the morale of the place with just a fun little tune.

    “If someone’s hiring for a singer, they better hire her first.” Hawthorne commented to her bird quietly. She glanced over to the fence where Gale was sitting on watch, then to the skies to see Cid floating back over to her. She raised a brow as he gently landed right beside her. For such a tall man made of metal, he was quite graceful.

    “Skies all clear?” she asked.

    “Ships actually. City ships. I think Alexander’s finally back.”

    “Great. The more hands the better.” She raised her brows a little, “You seem to be in better spirits this morning.”

    “A great night’s sleep will do that to you.”

    “Noooo, I think it’s more than that.” Hawthorne started grinning ear to ear

    “No…”

    “I think…”

    “Don’t you dare…”

    “Someone’s in…!”

    “Hello? You there Hawthorne?” Ghost suddenly called through the radio. Cid mentally sighed in relief as her attention deviated from him to the radio.

    “I’m here! Good to see you made the trip.”

    “Yeah, we’re the first wave coming in. There’s two more behind us, a full of people and supplies. Just figured you should know before a bunch of ships just dropped in.”

    “Sure, kinda nice to know when someone’s dropping on my doorstep, especially with stuff I can use.”

    They looked up as the wave of ships few overhead. The cheering of the people seeing so many Tower ships filled the air. Gale jumped off of her perch on the gate and ran towards the fields to greet the two Guardians that came back alive. Cid hopped down from Hawthorne’s perch and ran over as well. He felt bad for not remembering sooner what was there, and was just happy that they made it back in one piece.

    It was easy to spot the EXO as he jumped out of his ship with Red right behind him. Alexander looked up and beamed when the Awoken ran up to him. He picked up her small frame and gave her a hug, doing his best not to squeeze too tight. He was happy to see her again, and happy he made it home.

    “Good to see you too Alex!” She giggled as she was lifted up and put back down again, “I’m glad you’re both safe.”

    “Considering we were on a Hive infested moon and we made it out alive, I’d say we did pretty good!” Ghost chirped.

    “You two did amazing! This is much more than I expected!”

    “Alex!” Cid called as he ran closer, “I am so sorry. If I remembered sooner…!”

    “Hey! It’s ok!” Ghost chirped, “We showed those Hive a thing or two! They are really gross though.” Ghost looked down a little when mentioned the gross part. Alexander then seemed to remember something and started to beep, holding his hands up in front of him. Even without Ghost’s translation, it was clear he was trying to tell him to wait there for a moment.

    “There’s some people I think you’d like to see!” Ghost then flew towards another ship that was much larger and soon escorted down the three survivors that were near the back of the line.

    “Oi! When did the sun get so bright?” Edna shielded her eyes as she followed the boys down the ramp. Cid seemed to light right up seeing the three of them alive and well and started to run towards them.

    “Heeeeey!” Tom yelled as got out of line ran over to meet the Warlock. Before Cid knew it, all three of them had their arms around him, and once Edna jumped onto the hug, he fell over, taking them with him. They were laughing however, just happy that one more lived through the horror of being lightless.

    Gale noticed however, there was something wrong. She expected 4, but there were only 3. That meant that either one of them was also dead or missing. She turned to Alex and quietly whispered, “Why are there only 3?”

    “2 of them didn’t make it.” Ghost quietly told her.

    Gale’s face turned solemn, “How?” she asked.

    Ghost and Alexander looked at each other. They knew they had an agreement with Edna to keep the truth under wraps, but now that they were here, it felt even more wrong to keep it from him. Would he really rip Zavala’s head off for that bad call? It wasn’t like he partly deserved it, but now wasn’t the time.

    Gale knew Cid better than Alex did, but Edna and the rest knew him for longer.

    “I don’t know.” They lied. Gale didn’t seem to buy it. She folded her arms and frowned at them both. Maybe it was the way Alexander suddenly stiffened up a little or how Ghost glanced away once he translated that, but she certainly wasn’t going for it. She had seen him nervous before, and it took them too long to answer.

    “Alex… What’s going on?”

    “Well…”

    They looked over as they both heard something about talking in another place. They watched the four of them walk towards the barns with slumped shoulders and low spirits. Gale looked back at Alex, silently demanding an answer.

    “…We…” Ghost looked at Alex and then shook his shell, “Oh! I can’t take this! And I can tell you can’t either Alex!” The guilty ghost looked at Gale, “Zavala made a bad call. A really bad call. They went to Titan and tried to take the place from the Hive.”

    “He what?!” Gale’s face turned into one of horror, “The Hive can kill us just fine with our light, never mind without it!”

    “He said he thought the Hive wouldn’t get that far, which I don’t understand because the Dreadnaught was right there and the fireteam was warning him about it. It was bad. A lot of Guardians died, including two people of Cid’s fireteam. Edna wants to keep the reason they died a secret because they’re afraid of what’s going to happen if Cid finds out. They wanted to wait until this was all over before they told him what happened. They were more afraid for Zavala and morale.”

    “Well does she think it’s going to be any better when he finds out later?” Gale raised her voice a little, clearly angry, She even begun to float a little to come up to Alexander’s height, “Look we can deal with Zavala later, but Cid deserves to know! If he’s really going to rip Zavala’s head off or whatever they’re afraid of, I’ll stop him from doing it, which I don’t think I need to! This isn’t about what’s best Alex! This about someone who should know what happened to his friends!”

    While it’s true she had never seen him angry, she had more faith in him that he wouldn’t fly off the handle when they needed their commander more than ever. She didn’t want Alexander to fall into the trap of ‘knowing what was best’ as so many others did. What was best was the truth: straight out and simple. It was painful, yes, it had consequences, but she rather have a painful truth than a nice white lie. When the lie was shattered, that truth just hurt even more.

    “You’re… you’re right.” Ghost looked back at his Guardian who gave a sorry looking nod, “We have to tell him. We also have to tell him about that Witch.”

    “Witch? What Witch?” Gale asked as her feet touched the ground again.

    “There was a strange Hive Wizard on Titan that called to us. She said to us that we weren’t the Guardian she knew, but that his light touches us. I haven’t made many friends Gale, so I can only think of one Guardian she was referring to. She said that ‘Tell him that Xyer of the Thorn isn’t dead.’ Does that mean anything to you? What’s the Thorn?”

    Gale had to think for a moment, “Well, there was an incident 5 years ago. I remember I treated a lot of people that week. Someone had their hands on a corrupted weapon named the Thorn. It was originally used by someone named Dredgen Yor who killed many Guardians and their Ghosts. After he was killed however, no one knew what happened to the weapon. Someone apparently found it and it possessed them, so they say. I do know that they killed a lot of people and injured others.”

    “What does that have to do with Cid then? Did he stop her?”

    “I don’t know.”

    For some reason, it started to really bother her that she didn’t know. Something began to gnaw away at her, as if she was missing some awfully important. A puzzle piece, a card that had not been laid out on the table for her, something was missing that would finally make all of this make more sense. The fact his fireteam was going to lie to him about what happened to the missing members, the nightmare of a… witch…

  “Maybe she was mistaken. Maybe she was trying to psyche us out.”

  “Maybe…” but Gale didn’t really think so. Something was wrong, terribly wrong, with her best friend. If she could figure out what happened 5 years ago, if she could find out what that thing was, what terrified him in the night and made even his closest friends a little cautious around him, well… she didn’t actually know what she could do with that information yet…

  “Gale? Are you ok?”

   “No.” She answered, “I’m… I don’t know how to explain Alex.”

  “Hey!” Hawthorne called suddenly. They turned towards her, Gale seeming startled, “The girls are calling you guys!”

    They gave a nod, “Tell us later.” Ghost translated to her, “I’m now starting to get worried.”

    She nodded, biting her lower lip. She would be an awful hypocrite if she refused to tell him after all.

    Alex nudged Red who had been staring at clouds the entire time, to follow them. Jumping up to the perch, a disheartened Cid was already there waiting for them. No one needed to ask why his spirits were suddenly so low. He was relieved to know those people were ok, but the loss of not one, but 2 members…

    And he didn’t know he had been lied to yet.

    “Helloooo! Everyone there?” Ash’s voice rang through.

    “We’re all here.” Hawthorne replied.

    “Great! So um, long story short, we found Cayde. We found a new friend, and we have an idea of where Ikora could be.”

    “What’s the catch?” Ghost asked.

    “Cayde says we’re going to need a… gentler touch so to say. We think she’s on Io.”

    “I should’ve guessed that.” Cid sighed.

    “Where’s Io?” Ghost asked.

    “It’s a moon of Jupiter, the last place that the Traveler’s light touched. A lot of Warlocks consider it sacred. It’s also filled with Vex trying to convert the planet.”

    “Look, I set things on fire, Sarah’s probably the worst person at giving the gentle touch…” Ash started to explain.

    “She should get off that moon and get her ass over there as far as I’m concerned!” Sarah shouted.

    “Case in point. Cid, you know her a lot better than we do, and Gale you’re probably the nicest person ever next to Alex, soooo…”

    “You want them to go to Io and get her back, right?” Hawthorne asked.

    “Pretty please?”

    The two Warlocks looked at each other. Ikora and Cid still weren’t on the best of terms, that much was true, but he could push that aside. It was an old grudge, and could be dealt with later. Gale was on good terms with her, but didn’t know much about her personal life.

    They had to try though.

    “We’ll do it.” Gale told them.

    “You’re the best! We’ll be back at the farm soon! We just need to say bye to our new friend Failsafe here!”

     A voice none of them heard before rang through, “I do hope things go well on Io! The Captain here tells me great things about you two!”

    “Who is…?” Ghost started to ask.

    “That’s Failsafe! We’ll explain later! See you in a few hours!”

    The feed cut off after that. “Guess we better grab our things and go…” Cid sighed.

    “Before you do, you should look through some of the stuff we brought back.” Ghost piped up, “I think there’s things you two can use.”

    Gale gave a small nod, then looked at Alex. There seemed to be silent agreement over something or other between them before she started to walk back towards the ships unloading heir gear, with Cid right behind her. Already a crowd gathered there, and it would take longer to sort through things.

    “Are you ok?” she asked. He quietly shook his head.

    “No… I’m not.”

    Gale reached for his hand, and he took it and gave it a squeeze.  _Together_. They would face this together. She didn’t know about the Thorn, and it made her much more worried for him, but right now they had to get their Last Vanguard back and put them together again. There could be no more failures in command.

    Searching through the boxes was worthwhile. Someone had tossed in a handcanon that their dead friend had once used, but for some reason had not kept. The Sunshot fit comfortably in Gale’s hands, and it seemed like it held promise. She even found gear that was her size. It seemed that some Guardians had been busy repurposing old Golden Age space suits. She didn’t know why the material was black (she honestly didn’t want to find out how they dyed it) but it fit much more comfortably and offered a lot more protection than what she salvaged from the EDZ.

    Cid was not so lucky. While he did get a good scout rifle he liked for now, with his height, it was almost guaranteed he wouldn’t find anything armor wise. Almost everything had to be special tailored for his tall lanky frame. Still, he did find a strange helmet, again discarded by a Guardian who no longer needed it, that was much better than the one in the EDZ, and fit better. Nezarac’s Sin was carved in the back in small letters, but he had no clue as to why it was.

    “It looks good on you.” Gale complimented she sifted through more helmets.

    “Thanks…” He quietly mumbled. Worry creased her face as she stood up and placed a hand on his shoulder.

    “Are you sure you’re up for this Cid?”

    “I’m going to have to be.”

    “We could…” she was about to suggest Alex could come with her instead, but he shook his head.

    “I’ll be alright Gale. I promise.”

    That didn’t mean of course she wasn’t going to worry. As far as he was concerned however, he already had his time to mourn the night before. He had to put himself together, and he was sure getting Ikora back wasn’t just going to be a simple talk. Killing a bunch of Vex and letting some of his anger out that way sounded better than staying here and moping about. Gale could do more of the talking. She was better at comforting people.

    “Miss Gale!”

    They both looked over to the source of that tiny voice. There was Dani, still picking her flowers, and now offering one to both of them. One was a Daisy, the other a Daffodil. Gale gave the child a small smile and knelt down to receive both flowers.

    “Aw, this is nice of you. Thank you Dani.” She said as she took the Daisy and put it in her hair. She then handed the Daffodil up to Cid who gave a quiet nod in thanks. He wasn’t feeling up to talking to the kid at the moment.

   “Stella told me you’re leaving. Can you teach me to make people feel better before you go? I wanna help people too!”

    “I…” Gale looked back up at Cid. They already spent more time than they wanted to sifting through crates. She didn’t really want to disappoint the child, but…

    There was a sound, and the two of them looked over towards another set of crates where a certain Titan had his hands on something he never should have: a rocket launcher. People were yelling at him to stop pointing it at things and that it was probably loaded. Cid heaved out a sigh.

    “I’ll take care of that.” He said and then ran over to start yelling at the Titan and hopefully rip that launcher out of his hands. Gale stood up and walked the girl away from the commotion towards the medical tent, hoping it wouldn’t be blown up this time.

    By the time they finally resolved the situation (which turned into both Cid and Alex chasing the Red across the field because he was insisting on there being ‘bad guys’ on the other side he needed to test the launcher on) the Hunters were already back. As soon as Sarah took one look at Cid she ordered him to at the very least take a nap before he left.

    “You are not going to Io. I can tell you’re tired and need sleep.”

    “Sarah we don’t…” Cid started to protest.

    “It’s not going to do you a lot of good being half asleep on a moon full of Vex!”

    “Trust me, just give in. It’s not worth fighting mama bear.” Cayde advised. Ash gave a small chortle at ‘mama bear.’

    “We do remember our sun is ready to blow up at any moment, right?” Cid asked.

    “And we do remember that the Cabal are really dumb and still haven’t figured out how to take the Light for themselves yet, right? Just take a breather Cid. Sun’s going down, even a couple hours of sleep will do you some good.” Sarah insisted. Honestly, he didn’t want to fight her. He knew she was just worried about his wellbeing.

    He sighed, “…fine.”

    “See, the fact you didn’t fight me more on this one means you’re too tired. Go get some damn sleep, we gotta go talk to Hawthorne.”

    He took his helmet off and rubbed the back of his neck as he sulked off towards the barns. He could see Gale was there and waving the child off as she went to go see Stella. She looked up at him and immediately began to worry once more.

    “Cid, are you sure you want to…” she asked as soon as he got closer.

    “I’ll be fine Gale. I’m just going to nap real quick…”

    She gave a small nod, and then did something he didn’t expect, though should have by now. She wrapped her arms around him and held him close, trying to comfort him as best as she could.

    “No matter what happens…” she mumbled into his robes, “I’ll always be at your side if you need me…”

    He quietly held her back, “When this is all over… we should have our late talks again.”

    “I’d love that… I’d love for things to just be normal again…”

    He knew better than anyone however, that things would never be quite the same.

* * * *

    He wasn’t able to sleep long. It was hard to when his dreams decided to haunt him in the night, echoing in his skull even when he woke up. A tiny candle was his reminder that it had been just a dream this time. Gale had left it there after borrowing it from Tyra just in case, and it seemed to have done the trick. He took a few deep breaths and looked over to his sleeping neighbour. He didn’t want to wake her up. He already bothered her enough.

    Carefully floating over the people he slipped outside simply to get a breath of fresh air. The sun had set by now and the cooler air seemed to calm his nerves a little. He could see others were still awake, or sleeping in odd places. The two hunters who managed to bring back Cayde were asleep on the bench, leaning on each other and using their capes as blankets. Cayde was still awake and talking to Hawthorne about Zavala on her perch. Stella was talking to Tyra in her corner. Others were wandering around, but the one that caught his eye was Alex sitting on the gate with his Ghost, looking at the shard of the Traveler. He seemed to be staring at it rather intently, and Cid couldn’t help but wonder why.

    “Alex?” He called once he floated closer. Both the EXO and the ghost turned around to see him.

    “Hey! Couldn’t sleep?” Ghost asked.

    “Not really.”

    Alexander patted the fence beside him, offering him a place to sit. Cid took the offer, turning his gaze to the Shard along with Alexander.

    “How are you feeling?” Ghost asked.

    “I’ll live. Don’t worry about me. Once this is over I’ll… I don’t know…” he glanced down to the ground. Ghost and Guardian looked at each other and gave a nod.

    “Cid, there’s something we need to tell you.” Ghost’s shell drooped a little in guilt.

    “What is it you two?” He looked back up at them.

    “Well…” Alexander then started to beep out something for the Ghost to translate, “You know how… everyone probably told you what happened with your fireteam, right?”

    “Yeah…?” he raised a brow. Why was he asking this?

    “Well…” Ghost turned to Alex who also seemed to be having a hard time finding the right words, “They… please try not to… just know they didn’t mean harm.”

    “Alex. Get to the point, please.”

    “They lied.” Ghost said it straight up. They could see the shock forming on his face. They might as well have punched him right in the chest with that admission, “They didn’t die in the City. They died on Titan.”

    “How? Don’t tell me that…”

    “Zavala… despite their warnings made a bad call. They tried to take the place from the Hive… those two didn’t make it out.”

    “He fucking…!” Alexander watched as his hands gripped the fence and squeezed as tight as he could. He was angry, Alex knew he would be, and he had every right to be. His friends died because of failure in command, and he was lied to about it.

    “I’m… I’m really sorry, for well… everything.”

    “I hoped, fuck I hoped he wouldn’t be so stupid as to try and take that place if it was full of Hive! I was going to chew him out a little for not thinking the Hive would be there but this… he fucking knew, they told him that it would most likely be overrun but he still…!”

     It was hard watching this. It was not just anger coursing through the other man, but grief and loss. He watched as the other’s hands waved about as he spoke until they curled up into tight furious fists. Somewhere in the distant far back reaches of his mind he felt not just sympathy, but empathy as well. He couldn’t remember a time where he mourned the loss of someone, especially over a mistake, but somehow he felt like he did once.

    “And then why… why the fuck didn’t they tell me Alex? Did they tell you to keep quiet too?”

  “…yes.” The guilty ghost admitted, “They said it was… for the best that we told you later. Alex and I didn’t like it though… which is why we’re telling you now. I… we thought at first that maybe she had a point since she knew you longer but… I’m so sorry. You don’t deserve to be lied to about this.”

  Alexander knew their apologies didn’t mean much right now. This was a hard pill swallow, especially after everything they all went through. He could see his right rebuilt hand was twitching again, and this time they seemed to glow a little, but the Warlock knew better than to let his powers get the better of him. It must’ve been difficult to keep those fires from burning out of control however…

    But it did give Alexander an idea, once Cid could finally respond to them after he took a deep breath. It was clear Cid didn’t want to yell at them, but he did seem to need to let out his fury somehow. It needed somewhere to go, preferably at their enemies or someone who was willing to fight him.

   “I… thank you, for being honest with me.” Cid finally managed to get out finally putting his hands on his lap. That right hand was still twitching even as he held it with his left to try and get it to stop.

    “You’re welcome. Again I’m… really sorry for this whole mess.” Ghost started to translate, “How about we do a bit of a… mock fight? A 1v1. You can let out some of that aggression building up, and I can learn a little. How does that sound?”

    Cid raised his brows in surprise. Alex wasn’t fond of the crucible, “So a 1v1 Crucible match?”

    “Exactly! I’m not a fan of the crucible, but I’ll make an exception this time. It’s either that or we go off to Trostland and find trouble.”

    “No, I think I’m ok with that. Sounds good. 1v1, abilities only, no guns.”

    “You’re on.”

    Charon manifested himself and would float on the sidelines with Ghost as the two walked out into the field. They both knew this would get interesting, as one used a shield of Void, and the other a sword of Sol. It was almost like one of those Golden Age movies where knights would clash together.

    “So, willing to bet against your Guardian?” Charon asked as the two of Guardians moved ten paces apart.

    “Uh… is it bad if I say yes? Alexander’s good don’t me wrong, but with Cid being as furious as he is and a user of Sol and much more experienced well…” Ghost glanced away when he admitted that.

    “It kind of is, the Underdog can be full of surprises, but yeah honestly he’s probably going to get destroyed.”

    They heard a sound, and when they looked up to their Guardians Cid already had a flaming sword in his hand, and Alexander carried the shield on his arm. They looked at each other for a moment, waiting for the first person to make their move. Both were on their toes, ready to react to the other charging forward.

    In the end Alexander ran at Cid first. He closed the distance quickly, swinging that void shield to bash at his face. It met with the air instead, and when he looked up those wings of fire spread from his friend’s back, burning brighter and hotter than ever. He could feel the heat spurred on by his anger, his grief, turning it all into energy to fight back against the world. For a second he was in awe, but quickly remembered he was supposed to be fighting him. He was just barely able to lift his shield to protect himself from the first wave of fire raining down. The mere force made him skid back in the dirt, especially as the second and third one came crashing down.

    The fight quickly drew a commotion. Shaxx seemed to have woken up some time during all of this along with Gale. The two hunters also had woken up and wandered over towards the fight with Hawthorne and Cayde on their heels. The two ghosts quickly explained it was a friendly fight, a crucible match, and Shaxx seemed so proud in the moment.

    “I hope after this your friend here will participate more.”

    “Uh, we’ll see about that.” Ghost glanced away from Shaxx and turned his attention back to the fight.

    Alexander leaped back and threw his shield up at the man in the air, summoning another one right away. It just missed by a hair as Cid dodged then suddenly came down at the Titan in a Phoenix dive. Alexander put all the strength he had behind the swing that intercepted the sword with his shield. For a moment, sparks of energy flew off of the two meeting. Alexander could feel the searing heat that could burn flesh and melt bone. This fire and steel that could break the brittle, bend the weak, but the strong? It forged the strong. Time could do all it wanted to, but eventually, the strong burn again.

    There was a sound. His eyes widened seeing his void shield crack under the pressure of the sword. When it shattered into pieces, the force threw him a good ways across the field and he skidded to a stop once he landed on his back. He could hear the crowd that gathered murmur and gasp in awe as he slowly got up. Cid was standing up now, his flames dying down, but Alexander was sure there was more where that came from.

    Alexander had always admired him. A man who made a difference in this world, who was kind most times, and who held knowledge about it was someone to look up to. He looked up to Zavala for a time as well. Before this, he had been a calm and capable leader, able to rally up the people as one and accomplish any goal. He admired Sarah for being stubborn and resourceful, Ash for her tricks and passion, Gale for her kindness and hard working nature, all of these people inspired him.

    But he learned that for all their virtues, they had flaws, but that was ok. That’s what made them people.

    He wanted to carve his way through this world. He wanted to learn from his friends, peers, and make a difference. Here he was now in this fight against a Veteran who helped to kill a God, and what was he learning? He was learning about Sol, learning how emotions such as passion could make someone stronger. He learned from Zavala to use your own head, listen to your gut and your peers. He learned from Edna the same lesson, and that the best thing was to be there no matter what for others and to be honest.

    Now it was his turn to teach a lesson, to himself and to his sparring partner. It was easy to be a follower, but to be a leader?

    He looked back up at Cid and then raised a hand to beckon him forward.  _Come at me_. He thought.  _I want to try something._

    He could feel those flames growing inside him. The passion to do the right thing, to lead on into battle, the wish for revenge on the creature who threw him of the command ship and took everything he had, the want to bring justice for everyone who was lost, to find the truth…

_Let the flames burn inside you  
    Let them carve your path_

    People looked at each other on the sidelines, wondering why Alex wanted Cid to come at him first. They all held their breath and watched as Cid’s wings spread out once more and sent him forward at the Titan, sword in both hands ready to pierce a shield.

     But a shield was not what he was greeted with. He saw that fire in Alexander’s hand and it threw him for a loop, realizing quickly the situation had changed.  He just barely got out of the way of the first Hammer of Sol that was thrown at him and just managed to dodge the second one. Suddenly Alexander was charging right at him with a hammer in hand. It was clear that he had taken the Warlock off guard with this sudden change in the use of his Light. The two weapons met in a clash, the two of them in a stalemate for a moment, the strength of their light burning bright in the middle of that field.

    “THIS IS THE BEST MATCH I’VE EVER SEEN!” Shaxx bellowed.

     “Ok, you all have to admit that NO ONE saw this one coming!” Cayde yelled at the growing crowd who was in awe of the fight.

    They drew their weapons back and both jumped away from each other, Cid taking to the air. Alexander threw one hammer at a wing, getting a direct hit and making it quickly dissipate, crippling the other’s flight. For a moment, it seemed that Alexander might even be able to pull off a miracle and win this fight, but experience was the factor that played the final role in this fight. Even as he started to veer to the right, Cid swung his sword, sending down more waves of fire at his opponent. This time Alexander didn’t have anywhere to run nor was able protect himself in time and one of those hits slammed into him and knocked him down.

    “THAT WAS AMAZING!” Shaxx bellowed over the sound of Ghost shouting his Guardian was down. The two little ghosts flew over, healing the exhausted but clearly emotionally better Warlock and reviving the Titan.

    “That was something Alex.” Cid said with a small smile and offering his hand to stand up once Charon and Ghost were done their work. Alexander happily nodded and seemed rather proud of himself as he took the offer.

   “Holy shit you two!” Ash shouted as she ran over with Sarah and Gale right behind them, “That was the most awesome match I’ve ever seen!”

   “What brought all this on though? I thought you didn’t like the crucible Alex?” Gale tilted her head a little.

    “Uh, let’s say some de-stressing was in order.” Ghost translated. The Titan looked over to his sparring partner, who clearly wasn’t as angry anymore. Now that he let all of that heat off, he seemed like he would be ok now.

    “Whatever it was, you put on a hell of a show.” Sarah raised her brow.

    “You know,” the five of them turned as Shaxx came their way, “I never once thought I’d see the Light of the Hammers fighting for the city again. But you!” Shaxx motioned to Alexander, “You are full of surprises! Let me tell you right now, you have the power of great and honoured warriors that fought with me at the Twilight Gap.”

    “Well, to be honest Lord Shaxx…” Ghost translated, “It uh, kinda just happened.”

    “Kind of just happened? Bah! Walk with me, and I’ll tell you the tales. And Cid!” He turned to the Warlock, “Excellent fighting out there. I have no doubts that you and Gale will bring our Vanguard home.”

    Cid gave him a small nod as thanks as he walked the Titan of to tell him the tales of the Sunbreakers.

    “How long do you think he’s going to be?” Sarah asked.

    “Alex isn’t going to sleep tonight, guaranteed.” Ash smirked a little.

    “At least he likes learning.” Cid added.

    Gale smiled a little, “And it seems you feel better.” She said as she turned to him.

    Cid gave a small nod, “Yeah. We should get going Gale.”

    She nodded and hopped beside him towards the barns. The two of them grabbed their things from the barn and loaded up the ship that Ash and Sarah previously used. Gale could tell that he was better now, which made her more comfortable about going off to Io. The crowd below waved as they took off for the stars, hoping they wouldn’t be long.

    In all of the commotion, they had completely forgotten about the Witch, and the Thorn.


	13. Feast on the Light

    “Do you know anything on the Sunbreakers?” Gale asked over the radio as they flew through hyperspace.

    “As much as I do the Stormcallers. They’re a mercenary group based on Mercury. I say mercenary, but they have their own system of honour. To be part of their forge is huge for a Titan, especially since Zavala hasn’t been too fond of them until recently.”

    “Why didn’t he like them?”

    “They didn’t defend the City Walls unless paid to. They did it to their last breaths many times thought during the Twilight Gap according to Shaxx. They also defend the wilds and the Sol System too. If you have a Falen, Vex or Hive group that needs killing and you have the Glimmer, they’re the ones to go to. Honestly as far as I’m concerned, Zavala’s too damn proud to ask for help until he’s backed into a corner.”

     She could hear some bitterness in his voice, but didn’t need to ask why. Instead the light went off as they both dropped out of hyperspace and went racing for Io. The strange green cliffs, rivers twinkling with light, fossils from the Traveler speeding up evolution, and gentle swaying flowers dotted the landscape as they searched for Ikora’s signal or any sign of her. Gale had only been here once just to see it because it was sacred to Warlocks, and Cid never made it here, so they weren’t sure where to begin looking.

    “There. I found her ghost’s signal.” Charon piped up, giving directions to both pilots. They soon found her ship and then across a deep valley full of ruins there was the woman herself, standing there looking over them. They flew over her, turning themselves around and slowing down enough to transmat themselves onto the ground while their ships flew off to find a place to land. There was no way Ikora didn’t know they were there, but she didn’t turn around to greet them. The two of them slowly walked up to her, helmets under their arms, not hiding their steps, but she still didn’t move.

    “Ikora…?” Gale finally spoke up.

    “…of all the places I’ve been, in the time since my rebirth, this is where I return…” Ikora finally spoke to them but did not turn to them even as they now stood on her right. “The last place, the Traveler touched. Funny, how the Warlocks who were somehow granted back their Light also are now here.”

    Neither of them questioned how she knew that. She could probably sense the slight heat of the Sol and the quiet hum of the Void that tingled slightly with Arc.

    “I came here for answers Cid and Gale, yet here I stand with nothing.”

    “Ikora,” Gale spoke softly and looked up at her. Cid knew that comforting tone very well, “There’s far more going on, but there’s a way we can fix this. Zavala is forming a resistance, and if we…”

    “What good is a resistance if you two would be the only ones to survive?” Ikora finally turned her head to look at them. Gale could now see the grief that was in her eyes over losing so much and quietly bit down on her lower lip. “I believe… this Ghaul creature knows the Traveler blessed this site. I believe he sent his legion to find something they could never possibly understand. And I believe they will continue to desecrate all we hold sacred!” Ikora turned to them with a pleading look, “Save this place you two. Do not squander this second chance.”

    Cid frowned at her, and spoke up before Gale could give her gentle answer, “Ikora, I’m going to straight up tell you what is going on, what has been happening while you were here. Ghaul is after the Traveler and his power, there’s no doubt about that, but he also has a star destroyer aimed right at our sun.”

    Her eyes widened, “What? Why would he destroy what he worked so hard to conquer?”

    “Once he has what he wants from the Traveler, what good does this system do him? Might as well leave no damn trace that we were ever here and make sure no one can chase him. This isn’t the only place they’re going to destroy Ikora, they’re going to destroy everything and everyone! We’ve already wasted enough time getting here. Give me one good reason we should spend more time here instead of just going back to earth right now and finalizing a plan for the Almighty. We don’t have much more time.”

   Ikora narrowed her eyes at him, but could also see his point, “The Red Legion has been in and out of here nonstop since I got here. They want something bad… and that something could lead to what they’re up to now, exactly how much time we have left, and perhaps there may even be more information on this Almighty in the base.”

    Cid glanced over to Gale for a second before looking back at her, “Alright, I can work with that.” He placed his helmet on his head, making a small clicking sound as it fit right on, “We’ll get it done.”

    She sighed in relief, “Thank you.”

    Gale quietly also put on her helmet and then looked up at Ikora, “Hopefully we won’t be long.”

    “I hope not either… and Cid,” He was about to start walking off, but turned around to face her, “… I hope your fireteam made it out.”

     “3 of them did… but didn’t have the guts to tell me the other 2 died because of failure in command.”

    Ikora was about to ask how exactly it happened, but he already was walking away with Gale on his heels. He was about to say ‘sounds familiar, doesn’t it?’ as a stab about the Thorn, but decided to hold his tongue this time. There was no reason to do so other than a grudge, and now wasn’t the time to let it get in the way. He already did enough.

    As for Ikora, she was left wondering if she should’ve ever came here in the first place, and realizing just how many failures in command happened since the city fell.

    “Was that really necessary?” Gale asked when they were a good distance away.

    “Yes. She has to know what she’s been missing out on staying here instead of trying to find her team mates.”

    “Cid…”

    “If I hadn’t found Hawthorne I would’ve kept walking to the Shard. Once I had my power back I’d take a ship and try to search for everyone. Hawthorne was my best bet at not just helping survivors, but finding you and everyone else. She chose to instead stay here looking for answers. If the Vanguard didn’t run off in different directions, we might already have taken the city back by now and a lot of people might not have died. I don’t want that to happen again.”

    Gale couldn’t exactly argue with his logic. She might have used a gentler tone, but it still got the point across to their Vanguard.

    There was a loud cracking sound and a rumble that followed. The two froze and looked up at the sky that started to bleed out light from the earth, following Red Legion Ships.

    “Ikora! What is that?” Gale summoned Winter to radio her.

    “Energy… the Traveler’s energy! What have they done?” Ikora sounded awfully distraught on the other side.

    “I don’t know… they must have found a way to release it from the water system or the earth itself.” Cid replied.

    “This is my fault!  I could’ve stopped this…!”

    “Ikora no!” Gale shook her head, “There’s no way. Not without your Light. They would’ve killed you.”

    “I am MORE than my light! I could’ve tried! I should’ve tried!” To hear Ikora like this was heartbreaking. The two Warlocks always knew her as this calm and collected wise leader that didn’t falter under anything. Suddenly Cid felt really bad for being harsh earlier.

    “Ikora…”

    “But… after… a-all these years of dying, being reborn, dying again…  The Traveler has left me with one life… and I’m scared to lose it…”

    “And it’s understandable Ikora. We were scared to lose our lives before we went to the Shard. Even now it feels too precious to lose.”

    “Still… you did something about it…”

    The conversation left off there. The two of them had to keep moving in the valley, around the bend, and towards where those ships came out of. The paths were well beaten by other Guardians who came to this place to study it, and it was the same path that the Legion used to get to their base. Steel soon interrupted the natural rock, and the Red Legion had foolishly left the door wide open so the Warlocks could stroll right on in.

    Turning the corner however they realized why. They could see Red Legion ships taking off and shipping something or other on them. They quickly ducked out of sight behind some crates as they watched them move about.

    “Why are they packing up?” Gale mumbled.

    “They got what they came for. Why don’t we find out what it was?” Cid took the lead and crept forward. It seemed that there weren’t that many left here, which of course would make it easy to clear out the area. They came to the door and peered outside, none of them taking notice of them yet.

    “Now let’s see how…” Gale mumbled as she took a shot at a Psion standing next to couple of others with her Sunshot. What she didn’t expect was it to explode and kill the other two once it hit her target.

    “Oh…” was all she was able to say, especially as the rest of the Cabal in the area started to charge at them.

    “I hope you plan on keeping that.” Cid told her as he began to open fire on the charging Cabal. Her gun rang out in unison and took down the Warbeasts, Legionaries, and Psions quickly with little trouble. They ran out into the small area, noting the boxes laying about and the raw energy seeping up through the cracks in the earth. Delving deeper into the base however, around every turn they found it completely empty of life.

    “There has to be something here… Cabal don’t just abandon a place.” Cid mumbled.

    “Not unless they’re done with it. But they’ve been pretty careless with clean up.” She motioned to all of the crates still lying around, “I’m willing to bet they left something pretty important here.”

    Gale then led on, down the stairs and into a cave lit up by several lanterns. The Cabal hadn’t bothered to remove their equipment from here yet. There were boxes strewn everywhere and a drill still intact and still positioned to dig into the ground.

    “So, they’ve been mining down here…” Gale radioed to Ikora.

    “Mining? For the Traveler’s energy? Are they… No, there’s no way. It’s not Light, it can’t give the Traveler’s blessing. Not to me and not to Ghaul…” there was a long pause, “Or could it?”

    “If he can’t get the Traveler to give up its Light, he must be trying to get it from another place, here. And since they’re leaving…” Gale started to say, but then noticed Cid held his hand up to stop her.

    “Hold up, do you feel that?”

    Now that he mentioned it, she did. The feeling of darkness, cold, and the very fabric of reality tearing at the seams crept into her heart. She looked down further into the cave and noticed blotches of darkness forming on the stone walls and opening up into what seemed to be a vast endless space.

  “Cid… what is that?” She asked with a slight tremble in her voice. She wasn’t there for the Dreadnaught, for Oryx. This was all new for her. She couldn’t stand to keep looking at it. If she did it for too long she felt like she would be sucked right in and wouldn’t ever find her way out.

  “Ikora we have trouble.” Cid radioed, “Seems like The Red Legion let out enough Light it got the attention of those Taken from the Dreadnaught.”

   “The Taken.” Ikora hissed, “Be careful you two.”

   “Cid? Anything special I should know?” Gale asked.

  “Those blotches won’t hurt you, but you’ll start hearing some strange things from there, so wouldn’t recommend being near them for too long.  They’re dimensional rifts, pure magic, but they’re only meant for the Taken. Watch for small concentrations of them floating in midair, those are defensive wards, they explode. Watch for blights, those are a huge concentration of darkness, and when we do run into the Taken, kill them as fast as you can. The smaller ones can split and make new copies of themselves.”

    She nodded, “Ok.”

    “It’s just like any other enemy Gale, it’s just creepier and a little more dangerous. I’ll be right beside you, ok?”

 _And to think_ , she thought,  _I was going to suggest Alex come with me._  She was really happy now that Cid was here instead, someone who dealt with this before. When it came to the Fallen, she would shoot them with no problem. The Cabal? Bring down the wrath of heaven on them. The Vex? Shoot them in the Juice Box. The Hive? Be careful but not as much of a problem.

    But this? Beings made of purely darkness? Beings that could ‘take’ and make any creature theirs? That was something to be afraid of.

    When she walked past the first rift she could hear a ringing in her ears. Her vision seemed to blur for a moment as she got closer and then return to normal as she got further away. It was still enough to be a bit disorientating: that awful ringing in her ears, and the whispers she heard inside those rifts were almost unbearably loud in this small corridor. She raised her hands up over her ears to try and drown out the sound as best as she could, but it did nothing. It was as if the sound was in her head, which made it even worse.

    She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt Cid put a hand on her shoulder. Her head snapped up to see him and slowly she lowered her hands from her ears.

   “I know it’s awful. It’s hard to get used to it. You can do it, I’m right here beside you.” He wasn’t as good as comforting people as she was, but he did offer to hold his hand, just as something to help guide her though all of the darkness.

    She gave him a nod, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze. “What happened when you ran into them the first time? I don’t think you ever told me that story.”

    “It was chaos…” he started as he walked forward, still holding her hand. His voice was a wonderful distraction from the awful sound. She watched him shoot the tiny concentrations of darkness in the air to prevent them from exploding when they passed by, all the while listening to how it had been on Mars. She felt better knowing that he had been just as scared at first when the Taken showed up and started to snatch those Cabal and had him and the rest of his group running away in terror. He could feel her squeezing his hand tight, and was silently happy he was an EXO and it couldn’t go numb.

   They came to a more opened room and Cid had to let go of her hand. Gale watched as the Taken manifested from seemingly nowhere. They twitched, shifted about, their movements suggesting that their actions were not their own as darkness seeped off of their bodies, looking at her with one glowing eye, mindlessly running towards them. She could’ve sworn that the ringing from the rifts were now voices. Whispers.

     _Help me. Help me. Help me. Help…_

    The sound of Cid’s gun snapped her out of it, and she started to shoot them as well. He stayed close to her, knowing she must’ve been hearing all sorts of things right now. He was able to tune out the noise, but in the beginning it had been a difficult task. The echoing screams from the Taken as they killed them wasn’t helping. The Sunshot was helpful in crowd control, but he could see how stiff she was shooting it. She was on edge, gripping her gun too tight.

    “Are you ok?” he asked once the room was finally cleared. She nodded, but reached for his hand for guidance through the next corridor of rifts. He didn’t hesitate to take it.

    “Cid? Gale? Are you two still here?” Ikora radioed through their ghosts. Cid summoned Charon this time to talk.

    “Yeah, we’re here. You know, I’d hoped these things would stay on the Dreadnaught and wouldn’t go looking for sources of Light. Have I mentioned I really hate fighting these things?”

    “I hoped so too Cid, to be honest. How’s Gale holding up?”

    “I’m… I’m alright.” She quietly replied, “It’s just unnerving.”

    “Cid, do they seem to be moving with purpose, more than looking for light?”

    “No. Oryx is dead, remember? We made sure of that.”

    “I know, but it still worries me. I know they are no longer Hive, Cabal or Fallen. He changed them with…” she stopped for a moment, seemingly coming to a realization, “Wait, is Ghaul’s plan to do the same, but with the Light?”

    “Like, make his own army of Guardians and conquer solar systems? His own magical bullshit army except with a force that keeps bringing them back?”

    “That has to be it!”

    “Great…” Cid shook his head, “Just great… he doesn’t just want it for himself, he wants an army that we have no way of stopping.”

    “We will stop him.” Gale squeezed his hand, “Before they can figure out how to use the light.”

    He gave her a small nod, but they both knew there wasn’t much time left. He kept holding onto her hand as they began to run out of the cave, only letting go when they had to clear more Taken in their way. The ringing was getting a little more bearable now, but it still helped to have him there to keep her grounded. The Light that sparkled in the water and seeped through cracks were also a small comfort, but she hardy had time to look at them before having to dodge a blast from a Taken Cabal or avoid a Taken Thrall trying to tear her apart.

    “This is a skyshock alert! Someone or something drew the Taken here!” a new voice rang through their ghosts as they came closer to the exit just a little past the drill.

    “Asher Mir? Is that you?” Ikora asked.

    “Irrelevant! I hypothesize that this moon will implode if someone doesn’t do something!”

    “Cid, who’s Asher Mir?” Gale asked as they ran up the ramp. Even though the rifts had cleared up here, they were still holding hands. They hadn’t even noticed that it wasn’t necessary anymore.

    “Ever had to study the Pyramidion on Io while you were still a trainee?” he asked.

    “No?”

    “Good, I heard it’s really dry reading. I got lucky and skipped that. Anyways, Asher Mir was the one who went into the Pyramidion and lived to tell the tale along with 2 hunters. He’s published about 5 books maybe on it? Not sure. All I know is he never was the same after he came out of that place. He’s been obsessed with it, studying it, trying to make sense of what’s in there.”

    “What is in there Cid?”

    “I honestly don’t know. I’m not even sure if Asher does.”

    As soon as they ran back out into the open air it became very apparent there was a lot more Taken here than in the mines. A large festering blight was manifesting in the middle of the area, singing its awful songs that the Taken danced to.  Three wizards fuelled the blight that would summon more of them here, that would try to suck the life out of this moon. The wind howled here, chilling both Warlocks to the core.

    “So that’s why he’s worried this moon will implode…” Cid mumbled, feeling his hand being squeezed, “Gale, just remember, they’re like any other enemy, just creepier. I’ll be right beside you.”

   She nodded and let go of his hand. As soon as the bullets begun to fly, the Taken all started to make their way towards the Warlocks. Both of them leaped into the air away from the amassing crowd, Cid took the time to pick some of the smaller ones off from the air, which surprised Gale. It was difficult to shoot and control your flight as the same time.

   Once behind a Wizard – who was too busy trying to fuel the Blight to take notice – they could focus on the wave of shadows. Gale shot the smaller ones and let the explosive rounds do more of work, while Cid focused on the larger targets such as the Phanlanx who would cause them more trouble. They realized quickly however that even as they killed them, there were more being summoned into the world. They had to kill the Wizards, and fast.

    A burning flame manifested in Cid’s hand as he tossed it at the Wizard. It was enough to break the shield around her and cause her immense pain. A shot to the head followed it and silenced her before she could strike back against him. They dashed to the second one, focusing all their fire on her while trying to avoid the mob that was attempting to kill them. The second one went down with little trouble, but now they had to turn their attention to the crowd.

    “I’ll take care of this. You go for the last one.” Cid told her.

    “But there’s so many…!” she started to protest.

    “I’ll be fine Gale, just take care of that Wizard.”

    She bit her lower lip from behind her helmet and gave a nod, running towards the last one. She heard a sound behind her and turned around for a second to see those wings spread out, and Cid cutting through the crowd as it they were paper. She turned her attention back to the Wizard who was still intent on finishing her work.

    Breathe in, calm down, feel the energy before the storm…

    Breathe out, pour your fears into the lightning, your anger that these vile things dared to step foot here…

    A ball of lightning was in her hand now, bigger than what she was normally able to produce. Perhaps it was because she had more to put into it, but it wasn’t like she had time to think on it. She threw the pulse grenade at the witch and it stuck on like glue. The pulses broke the shield quickly and caused more and more damage over time as the wizard reeled from the impact. One shot to the face later, and she too was dead. If the blight still wasn’t screaming and there still wasn’t the sense of impending danger, she might’ve celebrated being able to make the Grenade.

    She ran up to Cid who was finishing the last of the Taken off, “I got her, but why is that thing still there?”

    “Don’t know…” he huffed as he landed and let both the sword and his wings dissipate, “That should’ve closed it.”

    “Should’ve doesn’t mean anything!” Asher suddenly growled through the ghosts, “Find out why it’s not closed!”

    The two of them slowly got closer to it, but stopped mid step when it quickly descended to the earth. It ruptured sending out a huge wave of darkness that swirled around them and formed a larger field. Gale felt Cid suddenly hold onto her as the winds battered against them as if he feared she would blow away.

    They looked to the source, and saw a creature had been summoned forth. It was large, hulking, clearly once Cabal. There was something about it though that brought a sense of dread to Cid. The eye was a bright yellow instead of a normal blue, and it moved not like a mindless stumbling drone, but a piece on someone’s game board.

    Gale could hear the whispers again. This time it wasn’t these things calling for someone to help, but the murmuring of Hive, and the name Savathun repeated over and over again. Oyrx was even mentioned a time or two, but mostly it was Savathun’s name in the midst of the ringing and muttering.

    Something was coming. This was their warning. But that something would have to wait until Ghaul was out of the picture.

    Cid let go of her and they both opened fire on the creature. It let out a loud thunderous roar, a roar that shook their beings, and sent forth projectiles at the two, forcing them to split and circle the beast. Cid already used up a lot of energy taking down the mob, otherwise he would’ve just used the Dawnblade to cut it down already. He wasn’t sure if he could make it last long enough, and the beast would surely focus him down if he did that. The puppeteer would be no fool and ignore the winged Guardian.

    Gale on the other hand did have Light to spare. She considered for a moment attempting a Stormtrance, but it was too dangerous in her mind. She barely had it going, and she would need to get in far too close for comfort. Instead, she opted to draw her powers from a familiar place. It wasn’t easy now of course with all of this noise and fear, but she needed to do something. Bullets didn’t seem to be doing it.

    Calm down, calm down, feel the quiet hum. Feel the light in a dark place…

    She leaped up into the air as the creature turned its attention back to Cid, summoning forth a Novabomb and throwing it as hard as she could down at the Taken Cabal. It wasn’t as big as her usual ones – she was losing some of her touch with the Void by practicing Arc – but it did the trick. It tore at creature once it made impact with it, ripping a large hole in the darkness it was now made out of. It let out a horrendous screech and exploded, the wave decimating the field that surrounded them, and it was finally quiet.

    “You alright?” Cid asked once she touched the ground.

    “Yeah… I’m ok…” she huffed, “You…?”

    “Yeah,” he wrapped an arm around her, “You did amazing in there.”

    “Thanks to you.”

    He shook his head, “Don’t discredit yourself here.”

    “Are you two going to spend all day blathering or are you going to tell us if there’s more of them?!” Asher shouted through the ghosts. Cid rolled his eyes from behind his helmet and turned towards Charon to talk.

    “Portal’s closed, we’re clear.” He simply said.

    “Thank goodness…” Ikora sighed.

    “Ikora…” Gale started, “I know this place means a lot to you… but…”

    “There’s nothing for me here on Io. I have one life left to give, and I will gladly give it to stop Ghaul. We leave now!” Gale smiled at the conviction behind Ikora’s voice, but Asher had to spoil the mood.

    “Don’t be so hasty! Ikora Rey, we must talk! And as for you two meddling Guardians, I have a few choice words to say to you!”

    The two of them collectively sighed.  _At least we’re alive,_ Gale thought.

* * * *

    The Pryamidion was a massive structure outside of the cliff face. The entrance was at the bottom of a rather deep pit under the arches the Vex created. Beside it near old fossils from the Traveler’s influence, Asher Mir stood beside his equipment and his study notes. The two Warlocks took off their helmets as they approached the man. Gale noticed right away however that his right arm was not a normal arm, not even a prosthetic arm the city made. No, it was a Vex arm. She thought it as strange, but didn’t want to question the clearly grumpy Awoken.

    “Um, hello there…” Gale greeted.

    “Eh?” the man looked up from his work, “Oh, it’s you. Yes, yes I know who you two are and all that nonsense, killed Oryx and all that, we don’t have much time.”

    “Uh…”

    “Enough of formalities! Ikora tells me your commander… somebody…”

    “Zavala.”

    “Right, Titan, he has a plan to take on the so called Almighty. A plan unsupported by any data! You two are Warlocks, you know how foolish it is to charge in there not knowing anything!”

    “Your point?” Cid asked as he folded his arms and raised his brow.

    “Hmph. There are remnants of an old planetary defense network here, a Warmind. We can use it to assess the Almighty’s capabilities. Then we will use it to tell Za-Va-La why his plan is wrong! And oooh I will relish in that.”

    “Believe me, you’re not the only one with a bone to pick with Zavala, Asher, but now really isn’t the time.”

   “Why, what do you have against him? It’s not like a bad plan got your friends killed or mutated or… oh.” Asher stopped midsentence when he saw the looks on their faces, “I’m… sorry. I had no idea.”

    “I’m saving it for when this war is over. You’re better off doing the same.”

    “Hmph, I don’t need advice from you. You’re no saint either if I recall correctly.”

    “Let’s go,” Gale started to tug on Cid’s robe, “We don’t have much time.”

    “Quite, we’ve wasted enough time already! Off with you!” Asher barked. Cid let out a small sigh and turned away, walking beside Gale down the path, putting his helmet back on his head.

    “Cid…”

    “I’m alright Gale.”

    That didn’t ease her worry.

* * * *

     “As we all know, Zavala plans to attack the Almighty.” Ikora started.

    “Typical Titan idiocy. I’m sure he thought, Ah Ghaul has a sun destroyer? I don’t need a plan! I’ll just headbutt it!” Asher sneered.

    “It’s desperation Asher. Zavala has forgotten he might die his Final death.”

    “Enough people have died you’d think he would remember that by now.” Cid mumbled under his breath. The two Warlocks had hitched a ride with their ships to get a little closer to the Warmind (and the Cabal base that was built over top of it) but were now running the rest of the way. One of the things that they most certainly didn’t want to listen to right now was Asher and Ikora bicker, yet here they were doing exactly that. They decided to tune it out.

    They turned the corner and stopped for a moment, watching an ongoing battle between the Vex and the Taken, with the Vex losing miserably. They decided to opt out of the fight and instead slipped around them into the base, which was strangely empty. It didn’t seem like it was abandoned. Perhaps they were avoiding the fight outside as well.

    “Um… Cid?” Gale piped up as she looked out the window. He turned and saw the Giant drill that was outside. It made the other one look like a toy compared to the sheer mass of this thing.

    “So we’ve found another drill.” Cid radioed, “This one’s big… really big. Want to bet it’s going right into the Warmind Vault?”

    “Most likely. If you can lift it up, then you can get in.” Ikora instructed.

   An energy blast went off and narrowly missed Gale’s head. The two whirled around and realized just why there were no Cabal in the base. From the next room over, a flood of Vex were marching through the door and into the room. It seemed that the Vex were keen on making this their new home.

    Though caught off guard, the two of them quickly destroyed the small army on the other side. Gale had even been able to recreate the pulse bomb from before, and this time she even could celebrate her success.

    “Keep it up, and you might be able to do a full on Stormtrance soon.” Cid complimented her as she bounced up and down a little. To do it once was great, but to do it twice was better. Consistency was key.

     In the next room they did find they were looking for. Even though the language it was all written in was foreign, it didn’t take long to figure out the large lever on the control panel was the ‘On’ button. Once Cid pulled it down, Gale looked out the window to see what it was doing.

    “Well… it’s on. It’s not moving at all but it’s on.”

    “Hah! What a gloriously irritating commitment to safety standards!” Asher chimed through the ghosts.

    “Ugh, why can’t things ever be easy?” Cid sighed.

    “Well that would be no fun.” Gale teased slightly, “Come on, lets go look for the switch that gets this thing up.”

    “You know I find it incredible that those moronic Red Legion ignorami didn’t realize that they were drilling straight into a WARMIND VAULT.” Asher growled.

    “Stranger things happen every day.” Ikora mused.

    Out the door they ran past the humming drill and into another cave. This one seemed like the legion had carved through it with all of the broken fossils inside, and even more crates littering the sides of the walls.

    “I’m detecting a spike in percosmal energy. Sterile natrinal particles have quintupled!” Asher suddenly radioed.

    “What?” both Cid and Gale asked as they looked at each other.

    “He means watch out for the Taken. You should hire a translator Asher.” Ikora chided. The two Warlocks shook their heads and carefully slide further into the cave, the floor turning from stone to steel. As soon as they got to the bottom, sure enough, there were more Taken inside, and more rifts singing their awful tune.

    “You going to be alright?” Cid asked.

    She nodded, “I should be. I’ll let you know if I’m not.”

    The two of them ran in, guns firing off at anything that moved inside. There were surprisingly not that many in the room, but they were both sure there were more up ahead. It was a little easier to tune out the sound of those rifts, but Gale still stuck close to Cid. She didn’t need to hold his hand, but the Solar energy radiating off of him was still a comfort.

    Deeper into the base, shooting what they needed to, they ran. Again Gale could hear the whispers of Savathun. Some whispers sounded sad, remorseful, especially when they centered around Oryx. Others whispered of other things that she couldn’t understand. But then there was a new name in the mix. A name she knew. Xyer.

    She stopped in her tracks and listened in against her better judgement. Xyer’s name popped up a few times now, but when it did, so did the same words, the same subject that Gale couldn’t understand. It sounded like this Witch was up to something that had the Taken and the Hive buzzing, but what exactly, she didn’t know.

    She would find out, eventually. They both would, and both of them would pay dearly.

    “Gale?” Cid’s voice knocked her out of her thoughts. She looked up, the sound still in her ears as he reached over to take her hand and pull her through.

    “Cid… does the name Xyer mean anything to you?” she suddenly asked.

    “Xyer?” He honestly didn’t know that name. The Witch never told him back then. It hadn’t mattered. So he simply called her The Witch, “No. No idea who that is. Is that what they’re whispering?”

    “I… never mind.” Gale turned her head away a little and started walking. Now it was Cid’s turn to be worried. Now really wasn’t the time to ask, but just who exactly was she talking about?

     The rifts were worse in here, and so were the Taken. It wasn’t just the small ones, there were plenty of larger ones with their shields and plenty of Wizards. The two hid behind the cover of a crate and started to pick off the small ones first. Once those ones were out of the way they moved a little forward to try and kill off the Wizards shooting at them from above.

     “Watch it!” Cid suddenly shouted. The two of them dove out of the way of a speeding ball of Taken energy that exploded right where they had been. They were separated now, just long enough for them to find trouble. As Gale tried to get up and scramble back for cover, she felt one of them grab her leg and lift her up into the air. She let out a screech as she kicked with her free leg and fumbled with her gun to try and shoot it upside down.

    “Gale!” Cid yelled as the creature swung her back and then threw her into the stone wall. The sound of her ribs and bones breaking echoed in the room as she let out a cry from having the air knocked out of her lungs. She then fell to the ground in a crumpled heap, and Winter was shouting ‘Guardian down!’

    He felt it. He felt heart being crushed by a fresh pain. This one hurt even worse than the last one. This time however, it only made him deadlier. He spread his wings, summoned his sword, and dove into the fray. His sword cut away everything that threatened to slow him down and then found itself lodged in the creature’s head. Once there, he put all the strength he had in his arms and sliced the creature clean in half, causing it to fall apart as it burned. He then whirled around, sending wave after wave of fire into the remaining crowd that stood no chance against his fury.

    Perhaps if they had a mind of their own, they might have known never to anger a Warlock.

    It bought more than enough time for Winter to revive her. She let out a sharp gasp as she coughed and spluttered: the last phantoms of pain that still held onto her ribs finally seeping away from her. She looked up and found herself awed by the amount of Light he radiated as he decimated the last of the Taken, and then finally touched the ground, letting his wings disappear for another time. He then quickly turned around and started to help her back on her feet.

    “You alright?” he asked, even though he knew she was.

    “Yeah.” She rubbed at her side a little once she stood up, “That one hurt…”

    “I’m sorry… I…”

    “It wasn’t your fault Cid. Things happen.” Gale took his hand and gave it a small squeeze, trying to reassure him, “Besides, you came back to help me.”

    “If you two love birds are quite done, GO FIND THE SWITCH!” Asher suddenly bellowed through the ghosts.

    “Why does everyone assume… ugh, never mind.” Cid shook his head. It was enough however to crack a small smile on Gale’s face. Luckily for them, the switch wasn’t too far away. It was a short jump up into another room and a quick pull of another lever. They could feel the rumble of the drill a moment later.

    “Well that did it. Hopefully it’s out of our way now.” Gale radioed.

    “Good! Now return to the Warmind and find the processor. I’m eager to discredit Vu-vu-zala’s plan to attack the Almighty!” Asher sneered. Both Warlocks let out a groan and rolled their eyes. He sounded like a school bully.

     They made haste to get out of the base and away from the rifts. Taken had moved in behind them and they had to take the time to clear them out once more, but at the very least it didn’t take too long. There was a question that Cid needed answered though…

     “So this Warmind… is it a part of Rasputin or is it still this dead AI?” Cid asked through Charon. He really didn’t want to have to deal with Rasputin again. The thing talked in a different language and in riddles. Not to mention he really didn’t trust it.

     “No. As far as I know, Rasputin is confined to Earth.” Ikora answered.

     “As far as you know. Geez… that makes me feel better.” Cid mumbled.

     “It should be fine Cid.”

     “I’ll believe it when I get in there and it’s not speaking Russian.”

    Once outside the two could see the place was now a mess. Vex and Taken were now in a full on battle against each other. The Drill was running, but it wasn’t out of the way like they wanted. The controls on their side seemed smashed, so now they had to somehow get to the other side and hoped those controls worked.

     “Ok… one of runs and the other one covers?” Gale asked.

     “Sounds good to me. I’ll cover you.” Cid replied. She gave a nod and made a dash around the site to the other side. He watched anything that noticed them and shot it down before it could take a shot at her. Once she was able to slip into the control booth, he started shooting the nearby Vex and keeping them off of her while she pulled up on the lever. He could hear drill slowly moving up and out of the earth behind him.

    “Let’s go!” Gale shouted. They started to run towards the center, hoping to dodge everything in the fray, but no such luck. One of the Hobgoblins got a lucky shot and managed to get Cid right in the back, knocking him over. Gale skidded to a stop to turn around and help him, but a Taken was already on her. She only had time to look over at the Taken’s shield before it blasted her away from him. She was able to glide and slow herself down before she hit a wall, but now she was too far away to help Cid unless she was able to shoot the adversaries. There were a lot of them as well, and even though her Sunshot helped, she wasn’t going to get all of them. She ran towards the crowd, hoping he managed to get back on his feet and would soon jump above the mob, but…

    “Guardian down!”

    She knew that. She felt it. She felt a pain that was sharper than the last time he died while off on a mission, much sharper. She also felt something deep down her gut. A surge of anger, howling like the wind of a storm. She ran at the crowd, leaping up and over them, feeling the rush of blood running through her. It only got stronger when she saw that though he managed to kill some of the advancing mob, Taken Thralls had torn open his chest and his back. She knew what to do, how to rid of these creatures that killed him.

    That was the first time she called upon the Storm.

    The first Lightning bolt tore through the Taken Thrall. She came down upon the rest, floating just a bit above the ground, letting the storm channel her Light and her anger while she stayed calm in the midst of it. The arcs went from Taken to Vex, destroying them from the inside out before they had a chance to touch her. It also bought enough time for Charon to revive his Guardian safely, just in time to see the last of the storm die down and finally go out as she touched the ground.

    “Whoa…” was all he could say at first. To see a Stormtrance first hand, even the end of it, was incredible. He didn’t even noticed his robes were once again ruined along with his thermal suit. Gale turned towards him as he stood up, and tried to take a step towards him, only to feel rather light headed and nearly fall over.

    “Hey!” he ran over and caught her, “You ok?”

    “Yeah…” Gale reached up for her helmet and took it off to try and cool herself down, “I think I over did it…” she laughed a little.

    “You are amazing, you know that?” That got another giggle out of her as she stood upright again and the feeling passed.

    “Let’s get this data and get out of here. You need new robes again.” She told him as she put her helmet back on.

    “Yeah…” he sighed, “I do.”

    The two of them carefully jumped down into the hole and on the ledge. They could see the path inside had a different texture to it than the Cabal steel, which pointed them in the right direction.

    “This will be rich…” they heard Asher mutter, “I will ask Zavala, can you tell me in zetuales the Almighty’s destructive capacity? And he will say, No Asher, I cannot, because I am a reckless fool!”

    “Ignore Asher…” Ikora sighed.

    “Oh don’t worry, we’ve been ignoring him the entire time.” Cid replied, only to get a ‘hmph!’ from Asher.

    They could see the Warmind symbol further inside and hear the ringing of the rifts of the Taken. Bullets went flying to kill them as quickly as possible. Both Warlocks were tired, and they were so close to their goal. With his revival some energy returned to Cid, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want this to be over with. They just wanted to find the weakness of the Almighty, get back to Earth with Ikora, maybe squeeze in a nap, and then end this war as quickly as possible. Through the rifts and the ringing they barged through the place until finally laying eyes on their prize. They could see the dormant Warmind in the center of a large round room. The two of them slipped down the slight slope into the middle underneath it where the controls were, and let their ghosts do the rest. The two little lights quickly worked to get the scanner back online and searching for the Almighty’s signal.

    “Let’s see, connect this and that…” Charon mumbled, “Can you get that?”

    “Yep,” Winter replied, “Now if you tap into here Asher and Ikora you should be able to read the data!”

    “Yes, we can see the system coming online now!” Ikora told them. The two Ghosts happily spun their shells once they heard of their success, only to quickly stiffen up at a sound.

    “Hold on…” Cid peered up over the ledge to see more Taken rifts opening, “We’re in trouble here…”

    “Keep them away from the Warmind!” Asher yelled. The two ghosts quickly transmatted away and the two Warlocks climbed out of the hole to witness the summoning of the largest Taken they had seen on this planet. It seemed like they had recently taken a Vex Mind, and it also wasn’t quite like a mindless drone.

    Both Solar and Arc grenades were thrown at it immediately to start damaging it. The two of them split up to try and divide the creature’s attention. The ringing was louder than before, but it didn’t deter Gale this time. She tried to grab all of its attention, hoping Cid would take the opportunity to take it down. It turned to her, firing down its weapon with a horrendous howl. She just barely got out of the way of the blasts.

    But he did act the way she was hoping he would. She saw those wings and smiled behind her helmet as waves of fire came crashing down on the beast. She took the time to line up several shots to the head, and it finally came burning down, and they were finally left alone.

   “Hah…” he huffed as he landed, “There, done. Please tell me the scan is going well.” Charon came out of hiding so they could talk.

   “It’s going poorly. The Almighty is inextrictably bound to the harmonic resonance of the sun’s magnetic flux tubes.” Asher replied.

    _“What?_ ” they both asked at the same time.

    “If Zavala blows up the Almighty, it’ll take the sun with it.” Ikora translated in plain language.

     _“_ Oh…” they both said.

    “It’s time I rejoined my fireteam.”

    “And it’s time for us to tell Alex to stop Zavala before he goes any further.” Gale added.

    “We can use this Warmind to extend our radio coverage. You two can fill him in on what’s going on and halt Zavala’s plan while I get my ship ready. And… later, we need to talk Cid.”

     He let out a sigh, “Sure.” But he wasn’t looking forward to that talk. He felt Gale reach over to his hand and give it a gentle squeeze.

    “Come on… let’s go home.” Gale told him. He nodded, and the two made a run for the exit, wanting to leave before more Taken arrived. They had enough of those for one day.


	14. Talk to me Guardian

    Alexander was in a strange state of being. A part of him was so sure in his path he walked, but another was so lost. His future seemed certain, Shaxx had laid it out that he had the potential to be a great leader so long as the fires kept burning, so long as the Red Legion was defeated and his friends were at his side. His past however, the one mystery he tried to shake, was still following him everywhere. A familiarity in the forests surrounding the fields, the dock nearby where the farm was, even when he thought about Trostland that feeling of familiarity was strong: like he had been there once, not there exactly, but in a similar place. It was driving him mad, like his memory was trying to tell him, scream at him, something important that he couldn’t grasp.

    And then of course that voice. That damned voice that kept talking to him in his sleep. After Shaxx gave him that long history lesson, she was there again, telling him he was doing great, on the right track, and soon everything would be over. Soon it will be alright again. He knew her name, Terra, felt like she was important but he just couldn’t quite get why. Why was she there? Why did no other Guardian seem to get this voice? With nothing to do but patrol the outer edges of the field, these thoughts filled his head and wouldn’t leave him be.

    He waved over another person and asked them to take over for him while he tried to take a walk to clear his head. He remembered what Sarah taught him, borrowing a knife from one of the many boxes around to carve into the trees as he walked. It hadn’t been the best morning either when Zavala had finally made his return. Though the reunion between him and Cayde was surprisingly heart warming, he could feel the dissent among some people and relief in others. Shaxx had welcomed the Titan back with open arms, but Alex knew others were not impressed with how things had been handled.

    Including himself, honestly. If he or any one of his friends hadn’t gone to Titan, they might’ve all been killed.

    He stopped when he came to a fallen log in the woods and decided to sit down on it and try to clear his head a little. He reached over to the ground and picked up a stick, absently whittling away the bark with the knife. This act also felt familiar to him, like he once did this exact same thing except there was someone beside him. He kept looking over to his right, but even though he felt like someone was there, there was no one.

    He let out a small frustrated sound and jammed his knife into the log. He buried his face in his hands, wishing he could remember just what he was missing, and why his brain was insisting on remembering.

    “Alex?” a very familiar voice called out to him. He looked up to see Ghost had manifested and was now nudging against his hands. He lowered them and looked up, clearly still disheartened by all of this, “Are you ok?”

    The EXO shook his head and explained his trouble, “That’s still bothering you huh?” Alexander nodded, “I really wish I could help you, but I don’t know what to tell you. I mean, there has to be a reason things feel familiar and for that voice, but I couldn’t tell you what it is.” Ghost nuzzled up against his cheek

    Both Ghost and Guardian looked up and turned around at the sound of footsteps. There between the trees was that old lady again. Stella seemed to have wandered into the woods, but for what reason Alexander had no idea.

    “Pardon me. I was just wondering who left all these marks on these trees.” Stella tilted her head a little.

    “Oh, uh…” The Titan stood up to face her while Ghost spoke for him, “Yeah, it was us. We just wanted to make sure we could find out way back.”

    “Ah, I see. This is a lovely spot though that you’ve found.” She motioned to the area, “But I can see something weighs on you. Alexander was your name right? I think I heard your friends call you that. You were the one that lead the others to the Shard and the one to bring back our Titan Vanguard, correct?”

    Alexander nodded, “That’s him, yep.” Ghost said, “And uh… well I’m not sure if you can help us too much, but we appreciate the thought.”

    “You’d be surprised what an old woman can help with.” Stella smiled, “Walk with me. I think I might be able to at least give you something.”

     Ghost and Guardian looked at each other. It wouldn’t hurt, they both thought. Alexander reached over and pulled the knife out of the log and walked beside the woman, leading her back out to where the farm was.

    “What troubles you so much Leader?”

    “Leader?” Ghost translated.

    “Are you not one? You are a man of instinct; at least you seem to be. The entire time I sang my song you looked to the Shard, ready to run out there and get back what is yours. A man of instinct in thought is one that is in doubt.”

    “I… well I mean I’m not in doubt about what I need to do. I need to stop the Red Legion, I need to protect these people. The future seems clearer then the past.”

    “The past? I know many Guardians do not remember their first lives. Is that what you’re talking about?”

    “Well… yeah. I know it really doesn’t matter in the long run, but I can’t shake these feelings of familiarity. I can’t help the feeling of forgetting something important. I feel like I’m so close but I just can’t grasp it.” Alexander let out a huff and Ghost nuzzled his cheek to try and comfort him after he translated the speech.

   “Hm…” Stella put a finger to her lip, “Perhaps when this is over, you may need to take a trip.”

   “A trip?”

   “Yes, to the place you were reborn. Perhaps you may find answers there.”

  “Katherine Cove…” Ghost stopped translating and then looked at his Guardian, “Wait, how do you know that’s where you were? We didn’t even find that on the map.”

   “Hm? Is that a place on the other side on this planet? Can’t say I’ve heard of it.”

   “It is. But that’s not a bad idea Stella, thank you.”

   She smiled a little, “See? I told you we old ladies have good advice.”

   They walked out into the field again and could hear Ash shouting near the crates. Something about ‘the coolest mask she had ever seen.’ When the two of them walked closer, the tiny hunter had the Celestial Nighthawk on her face, waving her arms about. There were other kids including Dani surrounding her, chanting how she was a bird-woman, and Ash playing along.

   “I am a bird! The queen of birds! Watch out Louis!” Ash grabbed the hem of her cape with both hands and used it as the wings as she flapped around and chased the children.

    Stella laughed, “It’s good to see them take time with the children.”

    “Yeah…” The Titan looked over to Stella, deciding to change the subject and get a different perspective on another problem, “What do you think of this… whole commandment mess.”

    Stella let out a sigh, “It’s exactly as you say: a mess. I do not want to judge too harshly on their decisions, the Red Legion caught us all off guard, but the separation of the Vanguard when they needed to be unified was a mistake. There is a reason there are 3 of them, to cover each other’s flaws in thinking. I can’t help but feel that if you and your friends didn’t pull through, none of this would’ve been possible.”

  Alexander gave a small nod, “There’s a lot of things that wouldn’t have gone wrong…” Ghost translated.

   “They will be paying for these mistakes, mark my words. I feel bad for them honestly. I only have to live with a mistake for another 50 years, they have to live with it for centuries, and this mistake cost lives.”

   “All I know is once this is over, there’s going to be a huge divide in the city. So many people feel like they were abandoned…”

    “Civilians and Guardians alike will hold a grudge, but for now I think our efforts are better spent focusing on the now and reclaiming our home. There is a silver lining to this however. Civilians and Guardians are interacting more, which I feel is a good thing.”

    “Huh…” Alexander tilted his head slightly listening to that. He never noticed before there were a lack of civilians interacting with them. He had been too busy with other things, “Come to think of it, yeah. It’d be nice if I was able to meet more people like you. We always feel the need to protect our home, but it’d be nice to know the people we’re protecting.”

    “I whole heartly agree, and there are things even we civilians can offer Guardians. I seem to be developing a habit of finding troubled ones though, like my student.” Actually, now that Stella thought about it. She hadn’t heard from Annabelle since this all started. She wondered if she made it out as well…

   “Yo! Alex!” They suddenly looked over to see both Ash and Sarah waving them over, “We’re getting a call!” Sarah shouted.

   The Titan nodded, then looked over at Stella, “Thank you. You’ve helped put my mind as ease.” Ghost translated and then followed his Guardian to the radio. Stella gave a nod and a wave. They were coming to the end now, and no one knew what the future held or them. It seemed bright for some, but for others…

   She supposed only time would tell.

  “Hopefully this is the last time we have this kind of gathering.” Hawthorne commented as they all gathered up again, “Nice mask by the way Ash.”

   She was grinning ear to ear when she took it off, “Thanks!”

  “Wait, is that the Celestial Nighthawk? Do you even know what that does?” Cayde asked.

    “Can we focus for two seconds guys?” Sarah rolled her eyes.

    “Took the words right out of my mouth.” Hawthorne looked back to the radio, “Well as you can probably tell, we’re all here including your Vanguard.”

    There was a small giggle, “Yes I can tell. And you’re right, I do hope this is the last time we have to do this.” Gale chimed from the other side.

    “You did find Ikora, right?” Cayde asked, sounding a little worried for a moment.

    “We did, but we also found out more about the Almighty. Long story short Commander, you might as well throw out your current plans for attacking the Almighty. If we blow it up, it will take the sun with it. We need a different plan.”

    Alexander side-eyed Zavala, “That was your plan wasn’t it? Just blindly attack it with ships and hope for the best.” Ghost translated

    “I… yes.” Zavala sighed.

    “Ooooh, did I hear-?” another voice suddenly was on the radio followed by what sounded like the ghost being pushed away or the mic being covered and an argument on the other side between Cid and the new voice.

    “What’s going on?” Hawthorne asked with a raised brow.

    “Oh, Asher’s being a school bully… Don’t worry about it. We’ll see you soon!”

    The feed cut off and everyone looked at each other with puzzled expressions.

    “So… once Ikora and the rest get back, new plan?” Ghost asked.

    “Indeed.” Zavala stood up. “Once we’re together again, I believe we can come up with a better solution.”

    “Commander, do me a favour. Don’t come up with plans on your own again. Same to you Cayde.”

    A sad chuckle came out of his throat, “I won’t Alexander. If you wouldn’t mind though… I’d like to walk with you for a moment.”

     Ghost and Guardian looked at each other for a minute before giving the Awoken a nod in agreement.

    “While you two do that, I need to show Ash how this Nighthawk works. You’ll love it. Not for Crucible, but for big assholes? It will help.” Cayde told her. The Hunter grinned ear to ear, eager to learn for once.

    “Well Hawthorne, if you need a hand with something…” Sarah looked over at her.

    “I wouldn’t mind the company, other than Louis.” Hawthorne replied.

    Cayde and Ash ran for the fields to test out the Nighthawk while Zavala and Alexander walked towards the docks. The Titan had to admit, it felt odd to be walking side by side with his commander. To walk beside a person in command was to be regarded with respect and trust. He remembered not that long ago he was only just registered as a fully fledged Guardian, and now here he was standing beside the commander in the midst of a war as the sun set over the horizon.

  “You’ve grown since I first met you.” Zavala spoke up finally. Alexander did remember that first meeting. No one could understand him until Ikora cracked the code behind his strange voice box. “I remembered I saw potential in you the moment you helped a fallen comrade off the ground. You were such an oddity, not knowing anything about the world around you, but in such a short amount of time, you made a name for yourself… and now here we are. You were honestly the last thing I expected to save us… but you did.”

    “Commander…” Ghost started to say, but then found himself at a loss for words.

    “I’m going to be honest, if you hadn’t come to that moon with Red, I don’t think we would’ve ever managed to take that place, nor get our hands on the CPU needed to find the Almighty. Without you and the rest of your Fireteam, Cayde and Ikora would still have been lost to the system and I heard from Shaxx you found a power that few Titans can achieve. I remembered I time where I would frown upon the Sunbreakers… but now I couldn’t be more proud to meet a Titan who forged himself.”

    “… then let this be a promise.” Ghost started to translate. Alexander raised his hand and summoned forth that bright burning hammer. It should’ve melted the Titan’s hand just by holding it, but all he could feel was the fire burning, “So long as I can hold this hammer, so long as I can hold my gun, you can bet I’ll fight to protect these people and my peers.”

    Zavala gave a smile, “Well said Guardian, and I’ve no doubts you intent to stay true to your word.”

    Alexander gave the hammer a toss, but didn’t summon a new one. He got his point across, “So where does this leave us?”

    “When the time comes to retake the city… I want you to be at the front of it. I want you to be the bright burning example of why we are Guardians. I want you to remind us all of why we are Guardians.”

    “I can tell you one thing, it’s not the Light.”

    “Yes… I’ve come to realize that now.”

* * * *

    “So uh… we need to have a little chat.” Cayde started. He already showed Ash the power of the Nighthawk. While it only allowed her one shot out of her Golden Gun as it drew out so much of her Light, it was one powerful and deadly shot. She loved it, even though it would take her time to get used to the feeling of all that power leaving her body at once.

   “Hm? Yeah what is it?” Ash asked as she sat down on top of some boxes.

   “It’s about your burning habit.”

   “And like that you’ve lost me.”

   “Look Ash, this is the one time I’m going to be serious. So this is the one time you need to be serious, got it? I hate having to do these kinds of talks but you kinda need to listen to this.”

   Ash sighed, “Fine, but be fast. I don’t like these sorts of talks.”

  “Neither do I. I got a bunch of them before I became the Vanguard. I mean, I’m all for good pranks and you pulled some good ones before well… everything went boom. But you need to remember where to draw the line.”

    He then reached back and grabbed his cloak, “See this? Remember when you burned it? It wasn’t funny. Do you know why it wasn’t funny?”

    Ash shook her head. She did remember that day, but a lot of it had been clouded over by Sarah nearly falling off that waterfall. She remembered vaguely when they got back the next day the Cayde looked like he was going to rip her apart, but then took one look at Sarah and stopped himself.

    “This is a cloak I got from my friend. He was the Hunter Vanguard before I was. He was great, capable, just… all around great person. One day he went off and… never came back. We went out there and found his body. I’ve been wearing this cloak for years ever since.”

     Ash looked up at him, clearly shocked by this knowledge. “Oh… oh shit I’m…!” she slid off of the crates and immediately started looking at it to find the damage she had done, “Oh fuck I didn’t… I’m sorry I…”

    “Relax. You just singed it a little. I’m a Gunslinger, remember? It’s made to withstand it.”

    “But still! Fucking hell I didn’t realize….!”

    “See, that’s why you don’t just burn things. Objects can be important to people, like this cape. Most Hunters’ capes are important actually but you get the idea. It’s funny when you just put a firecracker in an empty locker or something like that, but when you start destroying people’s things, it’s not cool.”

    She sighed a little, “…I’m sorry.” She felt like a child being scolded by her uncle.

    “Honestly we would’ve had this chat a long while ago, but when you brought back Sarah… I couldn’t bring myself to yell at you, and then Vanguard things and then I just wasn’t that mad. But with all this stuff burning and the conversation back on Nessus kinda reminded me of it. By the way, has she been getting better?”

    “Define better.” Ash turned her gaze to the direction of the city, “I just hope all of my research survived.”

     “Research? Since when did Miss Crucible do her research?”

    “It’s… ugh, look let’s just say it’s important for Sarah. If it survived it could… it could help her.”

    “Oh.” Cayde’s voice lost that chiding tone, “You’re really serious about this aren’t you?”

    “Why wouldn’t I be? She’s my friend, one of the few I’ve got. I don’t want her to keep hurting.”

    “Well, of course. It’s just that I’ve always known you as that crazy pyromaniac who runs around in the Crucible. It’s kind of nice to know that the crazy pyromaniac is actually a very nice person.”

    “Now if only the Vanguard Hunter would prove himself to be competent with Vex technology.”

    “Hey, it was all Vexy and stuff.”

    “Vexy?”

     “Yes, Vexy. It’s a word. By the definition of what a word is, it’s a word.”

    “Like Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?”

    “The hell is that?”

    “From some Golden Age movie.”

    “How did you remember something like that from a movie?”

     “I was really bored one night.”

     He shook his head, “Again, crazy pyromaniac, and you’re the one saving the world.”

     “We really are quite the odd crew aren’t we? A mute, an idiot savant, mama bear, a nurse, a tired warlock, and me.”

     “It really sounds like something from a Golden Age movie. What movie is that from by the way? That word?”

    “Something called Mary Poppins I think. It’s a pretty cute movie.”

    “Something to add to the watch list if it hasn’t been destroyed.”

    “Fingers crossed. Wait…” Ash then brightened right up and ran over to the crowd of kids with a few adults looking after them. Stella was one of them, and Ash hoped that the woman knew the ridiculous but absolutely wonderful song. Cayde shook his head a little, but leaned back and watched at the songstress did remember the song, and started to sing it with the hunter. At least Ash could sing on key and didn’t sound too bad as Dick Van Dyke with Stella being Julie Andrews, and the children enjoyed it. He was just happy that the hunter seemed to have learned, and would hopefully refrain from burning people’s things now.

* * * *

    The night brought back the Warlocks, and the people murmured anxiously as the Vanguard were reunited and now were in the barns planning. The six Guardians were close by. Alexander shooed off curious civilians, while others found themselves restlessly waiting for news.

    “Shouldn’t we be in there?” Sarah asked, “Considering that no matter what, we’re going to be the ones carrying this whole scheme out.”

    “Too many voices cause trouble, so they told me.” Ghost translated, “I’m just happy honestly that we have things back together again.”

    “It better be good. I’m not liking the constricting timeline here.”

    “Well really, if we can’t blow up the weapon, we’ll need to get it inside and shut it down. That’s our only other option.” Gale spoke up.

    “Getting there without being blown to smithereens would be the hard part.” Ash added, “I’m willing to bet it’s heavily guarded.”

    “Too risky to go at it head on…” Sarah mumbled.

    “Which is why we’re not going to.” The six of them looked up to see the Vanguard and Hawthorne walking out of the barn with confidence in their steps. “You guys want to steal a Cabal ship and fly right onto the Almighty?” Hawthorne asked.

    “Tell us more.” Ash stepped a little closer.

    “There’s a Cabal base not too far from here. It’s led by this bastard named Thumos. Sent a few teams to scout out that area while Ash and Sarah were out, only a few people came back. I want him dead, and with him dead you get a Cabal ship and access to that weapon.”

    “Sounds good, now how do we get into this Cabal base?” Sarah asked.

    “Well we could do this a few ways, but since it’s you guys running this op and we’re just providing support, we might as well have your input.”

     “So what are we looking at here?” Ghost translated for Alexander, “How fortified are we talking?”

    “Lots of anti-aircraft guns, the way there from the ground is a long tunnel because of the rock hills surrounding the area, the entrance is locked up tight, and thousands of Cabal.”

     “So there’s no way we can fly a ship close enough.” Ikora added, “Which is unfortunate because it means we’re blind to the base itself.”

    “… a ship can’t get in there and survey the area… but…” Ghost then lit up a little, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking Alex?”

    “Well come on, don’t keep us in suspense!”  Cayde waved his arms out to the side a little.

    “Cid,” Alexander turned to the Warlock, “If you can get over the cliffs and over top of the tunnel system, you could survey the area. They won’t be looking for anyone on the cliffs.”

     Cid looked at Hawthorne, “How high are these hills?”

    Hawthorne thought about it for a minute before answering. “Take your height and times that by about 3.”

     “So about 20 feet?”

    “Maybe a bit more.”

     He thought about it for a minute before answering, “I can do that. So get up on top of the tunnels, get to the base and see what’s going on?”

    “Exactly. We’ll at least have a pair of eyes on the outside of it.”

     “So how is this place sealed?” Ash asked.

    “Huge thick metal doors, like all Cabal bases are.”

    “Holiday managed to find something in an old base that can safely get through the tunnels. The Drake. A… tank, in laymans terms.” Zavala added.

    “Wait, what? You’re giving them a tank?” Cayde’s jaw dropped a little as he looked at Zavala, “Why don’t I ever get a tank?!”

    “You know you’d just break it.” Hawthorne rolled her eyes, “Any of you even have a little experience driving one of those things?”

     No one answered for a moment. Alexander didn’t want to mention the fact he attempted to drive something that was probably similar to it back at Titan to get to Amanda. That had been some of the most nerve wracking moments in his life. However it seemed like Gale, Sarah, and Ash were shaking their heads. It made sense they wouldn’t have had a chance to drive one but…

    “Didn’t you drive a tank once Alex?” Red suddenly asked. The Titan nearly jumped out of his skin, and immediately all eyes were on him.  All of them were either confused or concerned.

    “When did this happen?” Gale asked.

    “Oh back on Titan when we were meeting that nice Pilot lady! He took that big vehicle with tracks and drove it over a bunch of Hive!” Red answered with a smile. Alexander started to beep some things that Ghost decided it was better not to translate. Even then it was clear the flustered Titan wasn’t all that comfortable with the idea of driving one of those tanks.

    “Relax big guy, I’m sure Amanda will give you a run down. I’m sure you did fine last time.” Hawthorne tried to assure him.

    “Well…. we didn’t crash.” Ghost translated, “So I’m going to drive this tank into this door and make my way through?”

    “Well you’re going to shoot the door, but even then I’m wondering if we have enough firepower to bust it open.”

     Ash put a finger to her lip, “How many explosives do we have?”

    “Uh…” Hawthorne looked upwards as she tried to remember, “I know we found a bunch from the Fallen not that long ago…”

    “Put some of those around the door, hit with a tank rocket, it’ll go down, trust me.”

    “You think you can sneak in there and plant the explosives?”

     Ash started grinning ear to ear, “I know I can.”

    “She can. She’s the only one crazy enough to handle a bunch of highly unstable explosives.” Cayde added.

     “So we have our way in and our eyes on the end, but the Cabal will be doing everything they can to take down that tank.” Zavala frowned a little.

    Sarah chewed her lower lip for a moment, “I bet you I can snatch a Pike or even one of those Cabal… the hell were those floating tanks called?”

    “Interceptors.”

     “Yeah, those. That will give a little more fire power. If I’m lucky there might be another one for Gale, really lucky, there might be a third one for Ash.”

    “That will help, yes. Once you clear a path through the tunnels, the rest of your fireteam can follow behind you. Holiday has also managed to recover a few sparrows if we cannot secure more than one Pike or Interceptor.” Zavala instructed.

     “When you get there, there will be a huge ship. Thumos will be inside. Once you guys are in there, we’re blind.” Hawthorne explained.

     “I mean we went into a lot of this blind. I think we can handle a Cabal ship and the Almighty.” Gale smiled a little.

     “So to recap, Cid you do recon, Alex drives tank, Sarah runs support, Ash blasts our way through the door, if we can get extra Pikes or Interceptors Gale ad Ash can also run support otherwise they’re following behind. In the mean time we have an army to prep and a city to slip into. When the Almighty falls, that’s our cue to invade.” Hawthorne started smiling, “I like it.”

    “Sounds like we have a game plan.” Ghost chirped.

    “So… what do I do?” Red asked with a tilt of his head. Everyone looked to each other, unsure of how to answer.

    “You will… do the most important job!” Gale spoke up, hoping to save the situation. She walked over beside him and motioned to the farm, “See all of this? You have to make sure no Cabal invades, no Fallen sneaks in, you have to protect this place!”

    “Aw, but that’s boring.”

    “But important. Can you please do that? Please stay here and make sure nothing happens?” she stood on her tip toes, folded her hands in front, of her and gave him her most innocent look, “Pleeeaaase?”

    “If this actually works…” Sarah mumbled under her breath.

     He looked at her dumbfounded for a moment before patting her on the head with a smile, “Aw, ok. Just for you I’ll stay here for a little longer.”

    “Thank you Red!” She chimed.

    “I’m gonna go find some food now!” he announced before walking off towards the barns. When Gale turned around she looked at Sarah who was shaking her head. Gale wasn’t sure if it was because of embarrassment or disbelief. Ash on the other hand was grinning ear to ear and side eyeing Cid who was scowling right back.

    “Uh…” Ghost broke the silence, “So… crack of dawn we go do this?”

    “Sounds good to me. Come on Sarah, let’s finish up fixing that stupid shingle.” Hawthorne nudged the Hunter who let out a sigh.

    “I still can’t fucking believe…” Sarah muttered as she walked off with her.

    “Hey Cid…” Ash leaned over and elbowed him with a cheeky grin, “Can’t resist that look either? Eh? Eeeeeh?”

    “Ash, I swear to the Traveler…” he grumbled.

    “Hey Gale!” The hunter bounced right over to her, “You gotta teach me how to do that! Be super cute so idiots do what I say!”

    “Uh…” Gale awkwardly looked to the side, “Perhaps… another time?”

    “Oh come on!” Ash started to lean on the woman, trying purposely to annoy her as much as she could, “Pleeeeease! Do you know how much I could do with that?”

    “I…” Gale sighed, “Traveler have mercy…”

    Cid shook his head as he watched the scene unfold. He probably should try and save Gale from this, but the quiet voice of Ikora stopped him before he could.

    “Do you have a moment?” she asked.

    Right. She wanted to talk to him. Might as well get it over with, he thought.

    “Yeah.” He replied. She motioned to find a quieter place. It had been a long time since he walked beside the Vanguard. He hadn’t done that since the Thorn. After finding out she kept the cursed weapon, he had been too bitter. They did save his life, yes, but finding out they didn’t destroy it and running the risk of someone else falling to its power, it was infuriating.

    “I’m sorry.”

    He snapped his head to look at her with a bewildered look on his face. Did she seriously just say that?

    “W…. what?” was all he could say.

    “I honestly should’ve said that years ago. When we kept the Thorn, we wanted to know how it worked. Why did it do what it did? We thought if we could solve that puzzle, we would be a step closer to stopping the Hive for good. I thought perhaps if we were prepared, we could avoid your fate… but I realize now that it’s…” she sighed, “When we take back the city, one of the first orders will be this: if it’s ever found, it’s to be destroyed on site. I know you’d like to destroy it yourself, but…”

    “No…” Honestly, all of this was music to his ears, and took a little weight off of his shoulders, “So long as that thing can’t hurt anyone else, I couldn’t give less of a damn who destroys it. But I have to ask, why the change in heart?”

    “Losing my Light has been very revealing. You didn’t have to come looking for me on Io, yet you came with Gale. You were the voice of reason I needed, to make me remember just how much is at stake. I wonder if I was there… could I have prevented the death of many Guardians? I feel like the answer is yes. There were many Failures in Command as you say. I know this can’t really make it up to you, nor can it change the fact I kept an object that could’ve put another Guardian through hell, but I recognize it was a foolish decision, and I must be better. I have to be better and make sure nothing like this ever happens again. No more failures in command, no more foolish decisions.”

    Cid felt a small smile curling the corners of his mouth and some of his lost faith restored. This was some of the best news he heard since the whole thing started. If it wasn’t destroyed already by the Cabal, knowing that Ikora would give the order to have it destroyed made him feel better. There was always the chance some fool would keep the weapon, but all he could do at this point was find it first to completely prevent that. He was happy for now though that she finally recognized how awful this thing was.

    “Thank you.” He said. She started to smile a little as well.

    “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you smile. I hope this helps remedy some of the friction between us.”

    “If this works, if we get back the city and you make good on your word, I think I can find it in my heart to forgive you.”

    “I will. You’ll be there when I give out the order.”

    The two of them raised their brows when they heard a sound behind them. They looked behind them to see sparks coming out of Gale’s hands and arc energy coursing through her body. Ash seemed blown away by the sight and he could hear Ikora beside him being just as amazed.

    “In all places… in all times… I never thought I’d see the day…” Ikora started.

    “She’s amazing.” Cid simply answered.

    “She certainly is.” Ikora agreed, “I’m afraid there’s not much left I could teach that girl.”

    “That’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

    “Perhaps… but I think there’s something she can teach you, and I don’t mean in use of the Light.”

    He tilted his head, “What do you mean?”

    “I think you’ll see in time.”

* * * *

    It was strange to Sarah to be standing here. About a week ago she punched Hawthorne in the face. Now she was standing beside the woman, overlooking the entire farm. This setup was huge. There were so many people here, far bigger than what she pulled off back in her first life. She was certain she probably never could’ve done this. What Hawthorne and everyone here managed to do was incredible.

    “It’s pretty neat isn’t it?” Hawthorne commented, “I’m not used to all these people… but man it’s been a wild ride, hasn’t it?”

    “It sure has…” Sarah sat down, “You know, I heard a few people wanting to stay here.”

    “So have I. Could you imagine though… if enough people stayed here. It could be another settlement, but a bigger one. A Town, a community that’s not just surviving but thriving.” Hawthorne sat down beside Sarah, “Could you imagine a world where we’re not confined to just this tiny corner of the planet? Where it’s relatively safe to go anywhere, to live anywhere, any way you want to?”

    Sarah raised her brows, “It would be nice yes.”

    “If you weren’t a Guardian, and you could live anywhere you wanted, where would you go?”

    “Far, far away from the city. Too noisy. I’d probably be a hermit out in the woods somewhere.”

    “Well there’s perks to that, but it’s been kinda nice to have some people interaction. I know it’s done me a lot of good.”

    “Considering you thought us as fancy prats before, I’d say so.”

   “I can only imagine what it could’ve been back then. To be able to do that without fear. Imagine being able to kick the Fallen completely off of the planet, to get the Vex, Cabal, and the Hive out of the system.”

  “Those are ambitious goals.”

   “In case you haven’t noticed,” she motioned to the farm, “I am an ambitious person.

  “Good.” Sarah gave a half smile, “We could sure use some of that.”

  “Haven’t you have any ambitions?”

   “Other than kicking Ghaul in the teeth and getting rid of these asshole Cabal… well…” she bit her lower lip, “I’m not really sure.”

   “Seriously? Nothing huge you want to accomplish? Just the normal ‘fight on’ sort of thing. No wonder we still have Fallen here.” Hawthorne turned her gaze to the stars, “Just think. We could be more than just huddled up in a safe place. Guardians could do more than just hold back the darkness. They could protect villages, study more, broaden the horizons. We could be so much more. We can’t be stupid about it of course, don’t want a repeat of history, but that’s the kind of world I’d like to live in. That’s the kind of world I’d like to leave behind.”

   Listening to Hawthorne go on about this made something soften in Sarah’s heart. She herself was old and jaded, surviving day to day life, only really caring for a few select people. If she was being honest with herself, she hadn’t explored too much the world, just going wherever she was told to go. There was so much she had never even laid eyes on.

    “Why do you paint that X on your face?” Hawthorne suddenly asked, “Before you left for Nessus and when you first showed up you had a Red X on your face. Any reason?”

    Sarah didn’t answer for a moment. Honestly she struggled for a moment to remember the reason for it.

    “I painted it back then at our camp… I think it marked us as Hunters. Now I… it still marks me as a Hunter… but…”

    That life was long since gone. She honestly didn’t know why she still did this. There really was no reason anymore. She just did it as part of the motions she dragged herself through.

    “Well uh…” Hawthorne awkwardly glanced to the side, not really sure how to handle this sudden mood, “When this is over, you want to get some drinks at the bar if it hasn’t been blown up?”

    “I would love some drinks honestly.”

    “I think we deserve at least a few.”

    They paused a moment when they could hear a melody from below starting to ramp up. Do you Hear the People Sing? The song of a Revolution and bringing hope: a fitting final song before retaking what was rightfully theirs.

 _Do you hear the People Sing?_  
     Lost in the Valley of the Night  
     It is the music of a People who   
     Are climbing to the Light.

     “If they don’t hire that lady, I’m going to riot.” Hawthorne commented.

     They watched as people stood up to sing along and add to the determined energy of the place. Quietly the two of them slipped down from the roof and noticed the Zavala was standing on an deck, facing the people as Stella lead the song to its end. He had planned to make the speech in the first place, but Stella’s song provided him the opportunity.

   “Citizens! Guardians! This is where we make our stand!” Zavala announced, “These Cabal have taken too much from us, and it’s time we pay them back in return!”

    The crowd cheered. Alexander stood off to the side and gave his commander a nod.

     “At the crack of Dawn, the Almighty will be assaulted, we will prepare for our stand to retake the city. The moment that it goes down, we invade, and take back what is ours! Our Home! Our Light! And when we rebuild, we will make it better! We will be better! We will rise from these ashes and prevail!” Zavala announced, followed by another cheer.

     “Who are we?” Zavala asked.

    “The People!”

    “And who will pay for what they’ve done?”

    “The Cabal!”

    “Guardians! Tomorrow we strike back!” Zavala put a fist into the air, and the crowd followed suit, hooting and hollering. Alexander could feel the energy burning in that crowd, and felt the flame in his own heart grow.

    At dawn, the Red War would start to come to an end.


	15. Revolt

    To say the giant metal door was the entrance wasn’t entirely correct. There was a wide open entrance full of patrolling Cabal on the face of the cliffs. The metal door was a bit of a stroll inside past all of the guardsmen with an opened ceiling for aircraft to land to give supplies to the rest of the tunnels. It was perfect for dropping in a tank, but it made sneaking inside difficult with many Cabal on a short stretch.

    Nothing Ash couldn’t handle. Sarah taught her well in the art of sneaking. She remained in the shadows, creeping along the walls, silencing anyone in her way with her knife. Her small size allowed her to slip into hiding spots where normally people wouldn’t be able to squeeze into. Not a single Cabal knew she was there as she finally reached the main gate. It was clear they had been working on it with all of the scaffolding lacing the perimeter of the door. It certainly made it easier to do her job.

    Ash’s lips curled into a smile as she reached into her back pocket and pulled out her knife. She had been practicing for something like this. From the shadows she took aim at the Psion furthest away from her. She then threw her knife at it and imbedded it in the side of its head. Before the other could react, she drew her sword and cut it down. She took a quick look around before summoning Chie.

    “Alright guys, I’m in and ready to plant the explosives.” She radioed quietly. She kept Chie out so she could hear the conversation better. It would be nice to know what everyone was up to while she started to work with dangerous and highly unstable Fallen explosives.

    “Holiday, what’s your status?” Zavala asked.

    “Just a few clicks out Commander. This girl’s heavy.” Was the reply as Ash started to plant the first explosive at the base of the door.

    “Alexander, are you ready?”

    There were some beeps before, “We’re ready Commander.”

    “Cid, have you gotten over the cliffs?”

    “Almost,” Cid replied. Ash began to hum a little tune as she started to scale the scaffolding to plant more explosives.

    “Let us know when you get there. Sarah, have you secured the Pikes?”

     “I got one, but that’s about it. Bastards blew up the other two before I could even try and take them. There’s been no Interceptors out either. I think they’re all at work in the tunnels. Looks like you’re sitting this first part out Gale.” Sarah replied.

     “Well, I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time to contribute inside that ship.” Gale sighed.

    “What’s your position?” Zavala asked.

    “Hiding in a bush near the entrance, waiting for the big bang. The idiot Cabal haven’t seen me yet.” Sarah replied.

    “I’m a click out with the Sparrows. Waiting on standby.” Gale added.

    “Ash how are the charges going?” Cayde asked instead of Zavala.

    “Almost done.” Ash mumbled as she set the last one on a corner of the door, “They even left scaffolding there to make it easy!”

    “Holiday?” Zavala asked.

    “We’re in position, ready whenever you’re done there Ash.” Holiday answered.

    “Alright Ash, on your signal we’ll drop the Drake in.” Zavala commanded. Ash started to slip back into the crowded tunnel and found a crate she had picked out. It was already empty, so all she had to do was push the lid over and crawl inside. They were heavy, and she figured she was far enough away so that it wouldn’t move too much.

    “Hey Zavala, when you told Alex here, and I quote,  _I need Cayde_. Did by any chance happen to maybe… cry?” Cayde asked in that chiding tone.

    Zavala cleared his throat, “Ash?”

    “Let the record show, no denial.”

    “I swear you two are the worst.” Ash replied, “But yeah, drop Alex in! I’m far enough away now! It should do it!”

    She heard the thud of the tank being dropped in from a distance and the sudden rushing of Cabal towards it. The next sound was the wondrous explosion and the sound of the tank moving forward.

    “Alright! We’re in business!” Ghost chimed over the comms. Ash reached up and pushed the lid the rest of the way off the crate and crawled outside. The smell of metal and gunpowder hung in the air, and she could see through the cloud in the distance that there were a lot of dead Cabal in that explosion. Good, she thought. A few less to worry about.

    She turned around at another sound and gave Sarah a wave as she passed by. While Ash would run back and find Gale, Sarah would press onwards with the pike to help protect the Drake.

    “Go kick ass and take names you two!” Ash hollered through the comms as she started to run back to where Gale was.

    Sarah could already hear the Drake’s weapons firing off in the tunnels. Going through the cloud and through the wreckage she could see he already had gotten a bit of distance inside and already the bodies of the Cabal were beginning to pile up. Around a curve or two, she finally caught up with him and could see the small army and many rigged explosives inside. It seemed that even though they were caught off guard, they had been ready in case they tried something like this. She could also see an abandoned Interceptor, which would be much sturdier than the pike. At this point, if there were this many Cabal that could fight back and start to damage the pike, she would need the extra protection and power over the speed of the pikes.

    “Start taking out those explosives Alex, I’ll worry about the Cabal.”

    There wasn’t much of answer, but the shells did now focus on the explosives on the ground. Sarah jumped off of the Pike and ran for the Interceptor, leaping on it, turning the key and making it roar to life in a matter of seconds. As soon as she had her hands on the controls she could feel it was slower and bulkier, but it took out the Cabal trying to gun the Drake down with ease.

    “You holding up ok Alex?” Sarah radioed as they finally cleared the room.

    “I’m fine.” Ghost translated, “It’s a lot easier when you know what every button does.”

    “Alright I’m on the other side.” Cid called as the two vehicles began to move again, “It’s a cove of sorts, water one side, cliffs on the other. Nice hiding place. Lots of perches for snipers along the face but they’re not using a single one. There’s also a permanent base here now, ships flying in and out of it and the carrier.”

    “I might need to take advantage of that. How many Cabal?” Sarah asked.

    “Oh hundreds, they’re already waiting for you too.”

    “Can you pick off any?”

    “If I shoot one they’ll all know where I am. The only reason they don’t know I’m here is because they don’t look up. There’s also these generators near the carrier, but I’m not sure what they do. Looks like more than just make their energy, that’s for sure. The ship itself doesn’t look too bad but I’d expect a welcoming party in there too. I believe most of them are out here readying to intercept you. Still leaves a good chunk of Cabal inside though.”

    The tunnel suddenly opened up into a large room. The driving space became even more narrow as it seemed that the Cabal had drilled right into a cave and were using their own infrastructure to keep them on the same level. A Thresher was waiting for them, and Alex was already trying to take it down. Sarah could see some Cabal on the right starting to come through a door. Instead of trying to squeeze the Interceptor through, she instead reached back for her sniper and began to pick them off one by one.

    “Oh man… Red Legion is starting to bring out their Tanks.” Cid warned them as they took a right and into some wider tunnels.

    “Of course they are. I’m willing to bet that there will be at least one in here too.” Sarah mumbled as she put her sniper away to use the weapon on the vehicle.

    “Easy never does seem to fall into our line of work, does it?”

    “Never does. Hey when we get to the other side, mind raining down a little fire to keep at least a few of them off of us.”

    “I don’t mind at all. As fascinating as it is watching them bumble around, I’d rather be putting them in the ground.”

    “Did you just rhyme?”

    “Did I?”

    “Guys, please, they’re trying to kill us.” Ghost finally piped up.

    “Sorry Alex.” Cid replied a little sheepishly.

    The Drake suddenly came to a stop. Sarah pulled in behind and saw why Alexander wasn’t moving. There was another huge metal door in the way, larger than the last one, and no way to blast it open this time.

    “Well that’s a problem…” Sarah mumbled as the sound of exploding Cabal rang in her ears. She glanced over to where Alexander was shooting at the Cabal pouring out of a much smaller door, not meant for vehicles, but could provide an answer for this current situation, “Hey Alex, give me half a minute. Let me see if there’s a way to get that door open.”

    “We’ll cover you!” Ghost replied.

    “I’m thinking we need more explosives.” Cayde commented.

    “Uhhh, I kind of used all of mine getting the first door open?” Ash radioed as Sarah ducked through the smaller entrance, taking a left turn and running straight into more Cabal. The first one got a knife to the face and three others were shot in the head in one fell swoop.

    “Really? All of them?” Sarah found herself wanting to roll her eyes at the conversation as she slid beneath the fire of a Legionary, leaping up to grab hold of it and slice its neck open.

    “It was a big ass door.”

    “Those were big ass explosives!”

    “WILL YOU SHUT UP I’M TRYING NOT TO DIE!” Sarah screeched. The comms went silent as she shot the last two Legionaries and made a break for the next room. As she hoped, it was the other side of the door, with the console to get it open. A Ghost hack later, and the heavy door started to slide out of the way of the Drake and letting Sarah take the easier way back than walking over the many corpses she left in her wake.

    “Way to go Sarah!” Ghost cheered as she ran past the Drake and back into the Interceptor.

    “Oi, we’re not out of the woods yet.” She replied as she raced after him.

    “Well getting a door out of the way is progress.”

    “Not to rush you or interrupt,” Cid suddenly piped up, “but that carrier is trying to take off. You might want to get going.”

    Sarah was about to reply when she heard a large blast. As she weaved around the Drake in the dark she could see the crawling red tank opening fire on the Drake from the other side of the room.

    “Well it’s not like they’re making it easy. We’re going as fast as we can.” Sarah mumbled as she fired upon the other Cabal in the room. With them out of the way, Alexander could focus on taking down the Goliath in his way, but he could certainly start to feel the time crunch to get to the exit.

    “Cid, can you buy us any time?” Ghost translated. He let out a tiny squeak as the Goliath managed to hit them and shake the tank. One more rocket to the Goliath made it collapse to the ground, but Alexander found himself gripping the wheel too tight and clenching his jaw.

    “Judging from the massive engines… oh and now those generators are shielding the Carrier. Great. No Alex, I can’t. It looks like these generators are really shields, and even if I could get those down, nothing short of a rocket is going to do much to those thrusters. On the bright side, it’s going to take them some time to lift off considering its size and their safety standards.”

    “It’s going to have to do.” Ghost sighed as they pushed forward, “Anything you can do to get those shields down before we get there would be nice.”

    “I’m not sure if I can…” there were gunshots on the other side, “Son of a…! Hold on!”

    “Cid? Cid are you there?”

    There was static in the voice, “Little busy! The… found…”

    “Cid? Cid!” There was no response. Alexander quietly cursed, starting to worry for his friend on the other side. He wasn’t paying attention too much now. He knew well that the man could handle himself just fine, but his mind started thinking of what could be happening over there. Somehow this felt familiar, but not in the way that he felt like this as he wandered alone through the mountains. No, like once upon a time, he was in similar shoes trying to find someone who could handle themselves yes, but may have gotten in over their heads and now…

    “ALEX! WATCH IT!” Ghost suddenly screamed. The Titan suddenly made the Drake skid to a stop as he came to a retracted bridge across a deep ravine. He hadn’t even noticed it was there in the sudden swirling of thoughts.

    “Well we’re not getting across that gap!” Ghost looked at his Guardian, quite happy that they did stop.

    “Oh, your super Tank can’t fly? Oooooh…” Cayde’s voice chimed through the radio.

    “Is now really the time? Ugh, give me a second Alex.” Sarah jumped off the Interceptor and looked around. To her right she could see some stairs that went up into a building above the gap. She could safely bet it was where she could find what she was looking for. Up those stairs and sure enough, there were more Cabal waiting for her, including those damned Hounds. She was fast to put a bullet in their heads first as they charged at her. A snarl curled her lips behind her mask as she took aim for the center of the room and let her arrow fly. As the void orb formed and grabbed hold of everything, she opened fire on the rest of them, finishing off the last one with a knife between their eyes. She was so sick of these creatures now. Each one deserved to die just as much as the Fallen did for what they did to the city and countless other people.

    There on the other end was the lever for the bridge that she shoved down to extend it. This time she had to walk over the corpses that were already leaking out their black life all over the floor. Her boots left footprints as she ran back down the stairs to chase after Alexander who was already making his way across.

    “So, if it wasn’t to give me a tank, why did you send our favourite Guardians here to find me?” Cayde asked over the radio.

    “Your uh…” Zavala cleared his throat, “High risk, high reward combat manuvers can be effective… and inspiring.”

    “Well yeah, but with a tank they can be… a million times more inspirational.”

    “Again, is this really the time?” Sarah rolled her eyes as she got back on her vehicle and pressed onwards after the Drake, “In case you haven’t been paying attention, Cid might be in trouble here.”

    “Oh don’t worry, I’m sure by now he’s gotten himself out of it.”

    “Guys, please…” Gale mumbled

    “Relax Gale. He’s got this.”

    They ploughed through the rest of the tunnel, destroying everything in their wake. By then they were happy to finally see some daylight at the end, even though they knew time was running short.

    “Ok, I think we’re finally almost out of the tunnels. The Drake’s still in decent condition. Cid? Cid can you hear us?” Ghost translated, but still received no answer.

    “Didn’t feel anything, so he’s not dead yet.” Sarah added, “Well look for him when we get out there.”

    “Knowing him, he’s just fine.” Zavala radioed, “The only thing standing between you and the Almighty is Thumos the Unbroken. He’s a bloodguard, one of Ghaul’s chosen. The Red Legion will die for him. Why don’t you help with that?”

    “That’s also our cue Gale. We’ll be there in a bit guys!” Ash called.

    “Once that carrier isn’t going anywhere, we’ll keep them off of you. From the sounds of things, there’s still a lot of them…” Sarah mumbled that last part out as they came closer to the exit. She could hear the booming force of canons, which started to make her concerned for the Warlock that was most likely in the middle of all of it, “Hope he’s ok.”

    Through the exit and in broad daylight they could see the mess the Sunken Isles was currently in. They could see the generators that Cid had been talking about earlier lit up and projecting a shield onto the carrier. The entire place was a mess of strewn crates and messy trails, destroying the once beautiful landscape. They could see a more permanent building on the other side of the cove was well.

    “Now where is…” Sarah started to say, but stopped when she heard and explode in the air Looking up they could see one of the Threshers veering off to the side and crashing into the rock face. The culprit: Cid of course, gliding through the air sending down waves of fire to grab the attention of the Cabal still running around. Judging from the carnage, he had been very busy trying to kill as many as he could.

    “Oh… whoa. Found him. He’s fine.” Sarah radioed as she started to drive towards the first generator around the chaos.

    “Told you so. It takes a lot of ads to kill that old Warlock, and I mean a lot.” Cayde added.

    “You do realize he’s younger than both of us, right? We’ve been around since Twilight Gap, you longer. Pretty sure he hasn’t been around for that long.”

    “Yeah, but he acts older.”

    “That’s not… never mind.” Sarah sighed.

    It was strange, she had to admit, being in the midst of this battle. It was different than the many ones she slogged through in her years. As she bashed her way through the Cabal and to the generator to take it out, she felt something in it. She could feel the searing heat above as the Warlock fought to keep the Cabal away from her. She could hear the voice of Ghost encouraging her to work as fast as she could while his Guardian lined up a shot at the carrier. The energy here from the enemy was that of proud men and women conquering world after world in the name of their leader, instead of just petty revenge like the Fallen. The energy from her comrades was that of people trying to do the right thing and gain back their home, their lives, their freedom from Cabal rule.

    It made her feel, for the first time in a while long time,  _alive_.

    The first generator exploded. She hadn’t really realized she had done it, not fully, but she started to race towards the second generator regardless. Cid was right on her heels, his wings dissipating to conserve what light he had left. He raced after her, shooting the smaller Cabal he could. This was certainly a position he was familiar with. The enemy was different, but the race to destroy it was the same. Before the Thorn, he had been much calmer than this, but now? Now he felt that fire burning so bright, coursing through him, giving him strength, but also would leave him winded and exhausted. He had to be careful and be conservative, it would be too easy to spend all of that Solar energy at once.

    The other generator soon exploded, and they both looked up to see the shield fizzle away. Sarah turned and waved him over, sliding up in her seat. He clued in that she was offering him a ride back up to the middle of the cove and jumped on the back, happy to get at least a small break.

    She raced off back towards the Drake. It was clear in their absence it had run into trouble, as another Goliath had crawled its way over and had opened fire on it. The Drake however was more focused on the Carrier. It ignored the oncoming fire from everything else in favour of bringing that ship down. One last rocket hit the thruster and caused a cascade of explosions across the back, destroying any hope that it would be leaving. It was now grounded, and ready for the second phase.

    The victory was rather short lived as they saw sparks flying from the tank after all the damage it had took. As they got closer, the hatch opened at the top and Alexander threw Ghost as hard as he could away from the tank towards the Interceptor before climbing out himself. Cid was just able to reach up and catch the poor thing before it got too far. The Titan was not so lucky as another rocket hit the fuel lines and caused an explosion, sending him flying across the field, past the two other Guardians and slamming into more discarded crates. They both cringed at the sound of metal breaking and snapping upon impact. They both felt that pain in their chests even before the tiny ghost in Cid’s hand said his Guardian was down.

    “What happened?” Gale asked through the radio, “I felt that one.”

    “Alex getting blown up.” Cid replied as he jumped off of the back of the Interceptor and running towards the Titan with Ghost right on his heels.  Sarah took the chance to get closer and open fire on some of the Cabal on the ground. Naturally the Goliath started to attack her in return, and she ended up jumping off of the vehicle and running for cover. She stood no chance beneath the thunder of its large guns.

    They also began to open fire on Cid as he slid next to the body of his friend and tried to cover Ghost as he worked to revive his Guardian as fast as he could. It wasn’t the easiest job as the Titan had even lost some parts on impact, but the EXO let out a gasp and jolted to life a few moments later. What he saw was his friend holding his arm, and the patchwork robes already smoking and full of burning holes. The Titan quickly stood up and got in front of him to take the impact of more bullets and…

    This… this also felt familiar.

     _Damn it Kyle! I told you to run and not play hero!_

_Alex you bastard! I told you to get the others out!_

_They are out you idiot! Now I need to get you–LOOK OUT!_

    “Alex! Alex what are you doing?!” Cid’s voice cut through the memory. Honestly he really didn’t know what he was doing in that moment, lost somewhere between the past and the present. He stood in front of the Warlock while the Ghost healed his wounds, but wasn’t shooting at anything. Through the haze he could see Sarah had come out of cover and was shooting the Cabal with Cid, trying to clear out the place.

    _Don’t turn around._

That wasn’t her voice telling him that. That was his own thoughts, warning him of consequences from his last life. If he shouldn’t turn around though, then he would face it head on in the best way he knew how.

The light of the Golden Hammers shone in his hand before it manifested. As one flew in the air and came down upon his foes they exploded on impact, clearing out the crowd faster. He rained down more of them on the tank, the molten metal weakening and breaking the outer shell, until it also broke a fuel line and caused the Goliath to explode, taking any remaining Cabal in the immediate area with it.

    Sarah and Cid both lowered their weapons as it finally went quiet. The Titan let the fire burn out as he huffed, a sudden wave of exhaustion coming over him. They weren’t even done yet here. No doubt there would be more soon out here, especially once Gale and Ash got inside the ship. It would be a battle to keep more from following them inside and making this op more difficult than it already was.

    “Alex?” It was Sarah’s voice calling him this time. He turned around to see she had taken her mask off so he could see just how concerned she was. Cid had followed suit. They were worried, they had every right to be.

    “I’m fine.” Ghost translated.

    “Bullshit. Why did you just stand there for a minute?”

    Alexander didn’t answer for a moment. He didn’t really know how. Now Ghost was looking at him concerned as well.

    “I guess I… I felt like I’ve done this before…”

    “Before?” Cid asked, “Like in your past life?”

    “Yes. Except when I did it back then…”

     _I turned around. I turned around to shield the person I was trying to save… and I…_

He felt a headache starting to form, trying to decipher past that tiny memory he had been granted. He couldn’t remember the result of that action, he did remember though that he had a voice back then. And his hands… they were that of a human, not a EXO.

    “Alex, what’s bugging you?” Sarah asked. She sounded like a mother when she asked that. He wish he could give her an answer, but now wasn’t really the time.

    “Whoa! What a mess you guys made of this place!”

    Ash and Gale clearly hadn’t been listening in on their conversation, because they came speeding out of the entrance like the sudden heavy air wasn’t there. Alexander was glad for the distraction, but he knew this conversation wasn’t over. When the dust finally settled in the city, then he knew they would want answers. He would give them as best as he could.

    The three of them turned towards the two women as they pulled up beside them, “Everyone alright here?” Gale asked behind her helmet.

    “Yeah, we’re good. Go get Thumos you two. We’ll keep this place clear.” Ghost translated, “Eyes up Guardians!”

    “We’ll be back in a jiffy with codes and a corpse! Maybe not the corpse…” Ash mumbled that last part as the two of them sped off for the inside of the carrier.

    “We should set up a kill zone right outside the entrance. No one getting in or out while those two are working.” Cid suggested.

    “Sounds good… wait do you hear that?” Ghost asked and turned towards the entrance. The three of them looked over to the entrance and saw another sparrow racing through the entrance with a familiar silhouette on it.

    “Red? What the hell is he doing?” Sarah shouted. Alexander raced towards the speeding Sparrow, waving his arms up and down, trying to get him to stop.

    “STOP! RED STOP!” Ghost bellowed in his place, but the Titan just gave a wave and blew right by him. He nearly ran over Cid and Sarah as they also tried to block his path to the entrance.

    “Red! We told you to stay at the farm!” Cid’s voice bellowed through the comms as the Titan sipped right inside after the two girls.

    “Yeah, but it was boring. I wanted to join in on the action!” Red replied rather cheerily.

    “So that’s why I couldn’t find that one sparrow…” Holiday mumbled.

    “Hey you promised Gale you wouldn’t leave. You can’t just go around breaking promises like that. You’ll break a girl’s heart.” Ash chided.

    “Yeah I know, but the farm is so boring.”

    “Please tell me you at least brought a gun.” Gale groaned.

    “Yeah I did! And that rocket launcher Alex and Cid told me not to play with!”

    “You know, one day I’m going to have the EXO version of a heart attack, and it’s going to be because of you.” Cid grumbled.

    “I second that.” Ghost translated, “Look Red, just listen to Gale and Ash ok? Or try to. Don’t let anything happen to them. Remember what happened on the tower at Titan? Don’t let anything like that happen again.”

    “You got it boss!”

    The three of them looked at each other and heaved out a sigh. It seemed like no matter what, things never really went to plan. They ran towards the entrance to set up a position to keep more reinforcements out of that ship and kill anyone thinking of running out to fire signal flares. It was all up to those three inside the ship now, and hopefully the addition of Red didn’t derail things.


	16. Retribution

    While that conversation as been happening, the two women in already in the ship’s main ground deck. He saw that the two of them had left their sparrow in the entrance hall and dropped his off to run into the bay. The open room was full of more discarded crates, more cabal, more explosives, and more hounds. It was clear it would be a battle all the way to the command deck and to their target. Red had finally caught up at the end of that conversation and now could see the mess he was getting into. Gale stood in her healing rift, drawing more energy from Arc now that she was more in tune with it, and even managing to make a little temporary sprite to help her fight. Ash rolled into the rift to help with minor patch up and to fire a few more rounds into the crowd.

    Red naturally did was he did best. He charged straight towards the small army, and leaped up, over, then came down into it with a Striking blow, effectively disrupting their movements and scattering them. Now it was much easier to pick them off as the Titan effectively destroyed them from the inside out.

    Ash hadn’t actually gone of a mission with Gale before, so her tactics were new. She knew Red was just going to barge ahead and somehow not get killed but the Warlock was the opposite. She rather play a defensive game. She could stand on her own, but Ash quickly found that if she picked off the hounds that was getting too close to Gale, the Warlock had a much easier time laying to waste the rest of the Cabal. The healing rift was a nice touch as well so she could run into the fray with even less fear.

    “You were definitely right Cid, there was a welcoming party in here.” Ash finally was able to radio when the dust settled.

    “Figured as much. There’ll be a lot more where that came from.” Cid replied.

    “Try to find a map for the ship so you can get there faster. Thumos is either going to get mad and come after you, or he’s going to cower in the command deck. I get the feeling it’s the latter.” Ghost translated.

    “How do you know Alex?” Hawthorne asked.

    “I don’t, but considering we blew through an entire tunnel full of his men and women, and now invading the ship and we haven’t seen him? Most likely hiding, and he has every reason to be afraid.”

    “You’re good. You’ve been learning from me and Devrim, haven’t you?”

    “Yeah, I have. I’ve been learning a lot.”

    “You heard him ladies. Find Thumos, and do me a favour when you get there: break him.”

    Through that banter the three of them had been wandering the massive room trying to find a console they could use. Up a ramp to the left Gale had decided to go, looking around for something they could use. To her right she saw the glow of a monitor and walked over, summoning her own Ghost that was playing the feed from the radio to scan the console. Very happily he chirped after the conversation was done that he got the map and lowered down a Thresher holding bay for an easier way to get up and into the command deck.

    “Come on guys!” Gale waved. Ash and Red were at her side in a moment and followed her up and into a small maintenance passage with Winter leading the way and giving her directions.

    “Be careful you guys. Those people that we lost to Thumos? They were good people, some of my best.” Hawthorne mumbled that last part out.

    “They can handle it Hawthorne. It’s what they do.” Zavala said.

    “It’s what you did. Last time I checked, without the light, you and me are not so different. And if I remember correctly, these guys risked their necks trying to get it back and save your asses.”

    “It wasn’t exactly a walk in the park, no.” Ash admitted.

    The passage was dimly lit with garbage all over the ground. It was easy to trip on discarded hoses and junked weapons. Up through the passage and towards another door, it opened to reveal one Legionary and three hounds. They were very quickly gunned down by the three of them. It meant however that Thumos knew where they were, and they would be met with resistance around every corner.

    Before they could press forward, the door quickly slammed shut on them. They weren’t going to bust through that thick door by themselves, nor did there seem to be any way to open it from their side. There was no lever nor an electronic keypad for the ghost to hack into.

    “Now what?” Gale asked. Ash was already looking around at the walls and smiled behind her mask when she found what she was looking for. If the door wasn’t accessible, then the vent on the wall would do just nicely.

    “Hey Red, can you punch out that vent?” She asked and pointed at it. Always happy to help, the Titan bounded over and punched a hole right through the vent cover. He then pulled it out and threw it aside. It was Cabal sized, which meant that even Red could fit inside.

    “I’ll go first. You lead though little guy.” Ash motioned to Winter who gave a nod and followed the hunter into the vent, looking through the map and leading the way forward. Gale followed after her with Red bringing up the rear.

    “Wish I could be out there with you. I’d pull the trigger myself, for my team.” Hawthorne growled.

    “Your time will come Hawthorne.” Zavala assured her.

    “I’m counting on it.”

    “Don’t worry, we’ll put a lot of bullet holes into him for you. Though uh, don’t get too caught up in this whole revenge thing mmkay? Not good for you.” Ash added.

    “How do you know that Ash? I didn’t think you’d be the type to be against it.” Hawthorne asked.

    “It’s… uh… long story.”

    “Ash, you ok?” Gale asked behind her as climbed up the vent to get up another level.

    “Oh! I’m fine! Don’t worry about me Gale.”

    Much to Ash’s relief, Gale did drop it. It didn’t feel right explaining that she was referring to Sarah when she meant getting too caught up in revenge. She kicked out another vent once Winter pointed out that they could go through it and dropped down on some unsuspecting Cabal. She took a knife from her belt and slit its throat opening before jumping off, sheathing that and instead taking out her sword. Bullets from the Sunshot rang out from the vent, taking out more of the Cabal while Ash sliced through what she could. The Warlock jumped down into the hall and threw a pulse grenade at the Psions on the catwalks overlooking the hall and started to pick them off so they couldn’t shoot at the Hunter in the middle of the fray.

    Pushing forward with Red at her heels and Ash leading the way, Gale could see the hall open up into an engine room. Pistons moved up and down, turning the giant crankshaft above their heads. It seemed that these Cabal had been inspecting this part of the engine in case of further damage from Alexander’s assault. (Or something. It wasn’t like she really did know.) The Titan charged ahead to punch some Psions in the face (as Gale expected he would) and instead focused on giving support to the Hunter who was much less armoured in favour of movement. She glided over to a better spot, threw down a healing rift and shot at the few Cabal who were focused on trying to shoot the Hunter. Ash noticed the rift from the corner of her eye, and after slicing a Psion’s head off, she rolled out of the crowd and jumped onto the rift. It was clear from the burn marks on her armor and the way she had a slight limp she had needed the help.

    “You’re a lifesaver! No wonder you’re a nurse.” Ash sounded like she was grinning ear to ear behind that mask. The two of them made short work of the rest of the Cabal inside the room, and Red did bumble back to where the women were, as he didn’t know where to go.

     Winter lead on to another vent, but it stopped them before they could kick the cover off.

    “We have to go through the Thresher dock.” He explained.

    “Which means there will be a lot of Cabal in there…” Gale sighed.

    “Alexander, can Holiday get in for an assist in any way possible?” Zavala asked.

    “Uh… lets see here. We’ve killed a lot of Cabal so there’s less to shoot you down but… Cid? Sarah? Thoughts?” Ghost translated

    “You’re right on that, but we don’t know how many are still in that ship waiting to shoot her down… wait, you hear that?” Sarah asked.

    “Sounds like Threshers… which could work for Holiday.” Cid added.

    “I get it!” Ghost’s voice became chipper, “There’s a stack of reinforcements coming in from above that will try and storm this ship. We’ll be blocking their flow. If you can slip in with those Amanda, there’s a better chance they won’t shoot you down. They won’t shoot their own people.”

    “I like it. I’ll be there in a minute you guys. Just hold out until then.” Holiday instructed. The three of them nodded to each other Red punched out the cover and they crawled inside. Dropping down they found themselves in the corner of the hangar with a Thresher going out to launch. They could see two heavily armoured Centurions on the other side guarding another door that would lead to the rest of the Hangar.

    “So any chance to get a real good jump…” Ash started to ask, but was interrupted by Red barging ahead to meet the Cabal head on at the door. The two girls both let out a sigh, knowing full well they would need to bail him out of certain death.

    As Red managed to punch one in the face, the other one reached over and grabbed the Titan by the throat. For a second it seemed like the massive creature would just pop his head off like a doll, but the sudden rain of bullets caused him to drop the Titan. Both Cabal were struck by Ash’s Old Fashion and Gale’s Sunshot, and both fell in a matter of moments.

    “Can you please stop doing that?” Gale asked as Red got back up.

    “I thought I had them!” Red replied.

    “Red. What did I tell you?” Ghost piped up through the radio.

    “Not to go barging ahead by myself?”

    “Very good. Now can you please not do that unless they tell you to?”

    The door suddenly opened beside them. They could see an army of Cabal, all their weapons pointed right at them, ready to destroy them where they stood. Just as sudden was the gunfire and rockets from the outside that killed those same Cabal.

    “Did someone call for back up?” Holiday’s voice rang through. The Cabal started to scatter in confusion and fear, only to be shot down by the three Guardians that started to push in.

    “Holiday, I love you. Just so you know.” Ash chimed as she threw a knife into a Psion’s face. She could see through the open hangar doors to the outside Holiday’s ship raining down fire upon their enemies. The woman sounded like she was having way too much causing hell inside that hangar. Panicked Cabal ran about and were cut down by the three Guardians and Holiday. Anyone who tried to run for cover was quickly killed by one of them on the ground floor, and the others didn’t last long against Holiday’s assault. The best part was that where she was, no canon or gun could get at her.

    “Alright Guardians, I’ve done my part!” Holiday announced when the three of them finally got to the other side, “You go find Thumos!”

    Ash and Gale waved at her as she started to fly away, “We will! He won’t even know what hit him!” Ash called.

    The little ghost led on through the maze of tunnels. They were met with little resistance as they snaked their way up and through the corridors. He finally returned to Gale and transmatted away to safety when they come to the last room. Inside was a round room full of glass panels. Up a short ramp in the middle of another platform with consoles around the outside was the hulking figure they had been looking for with two large heavily armoured Centurions standing at either side of him.

    “You know big guy, we went through a lot of trouble finding you. Can you do us all a favour and just give us the keycodes?” Ash asked. All she was met with was a growl and some nonsense in their language.

    “I’d take that as a no.” Gale said.

    “Can’t say I didn’t try. Red?”

    The Titan barged ahead at the sound of his name, leaping up and coming down on them in a Strike. The two centurions quickly became occupied with the unstoppable force that was the Striker, leaving Thumos to the two women. He immediately started to fire down a rain of bullets on the girls, making them run around the room to dodge most of them. When the clip finally ran out, Gale threw down a healing rift for Ash to use, but they could also hear the door where they came from opening. They turned and looked at the flood of hounds, Psions, and Legionaries rushing through the door.

    “Oi! Now that’s just not fair!” Ash shouted.

    “I’ll take care of them. You focus on Thumos.” Gale instructed. Before Ash could say anything, the woman already jumped up, glided a little over the crowd, then called down the lightning bolt through her body, and effectively destroying the Cabal on the ground. Chains of lightning tore through the Cabal like paper, and their numbers quickly were cut down. Even better, the arcs close enough to Thumos also gave him a good shock. Red was also almost done with the last Centurion from before.

    Which left tiny Ash to face off with hulking Thumos. She was much faster than he was, able to manuver around the room, dodging bullets every which way. She could see Red was already shooting at his back, and it wouldn’t be long before Gale would be shooting at him as well. As she climbed up onto a console on the outer edge to meet his height, she figured now was a good time as any to test out her new toy, the Celestial Nighthawk, on a real target. Even better, it was a real target whom deserved to have his head blown off.

    It was fast, and honestly if Gale and Red hadn’t been paying attention they would’ve missed it. Summoning forth her Golden Gun she was quick to take aim at its head. When she fired, she felt all of that light leaving her at once, a feeling she still wasn’t used to, but she hit her mark. The impact destroyed his head on the spot, the head cauterizing what was left. The body fell over lifeless, Thumos was no more, outmatched by the Hunter.

    “…Wow.” Was all Gale could say.

    “What? It worked, didn’t it?” Ash raised her arms up in a shrug.

    “It certainly did…”

    Gale summoned her ghost to begin to scan for keycodes for a ship. As he scanned the body, he seemed to light right up at finding what they were looking for.

    “Got the ship keycodes, and Thumos is dead! Check and check!” he chirped.

    “You guys did a service today. I’m gonna spread the word! Thumos is gone for good!” Hawthorne cheered.

    “Head to the base outside. His ship should be in there.” Zavala instructed.

    “In the mean time, we’ll open a path for you straight through.” Ghost translated, “Don’t… get in too much of a hurry, there’s a lot of them out here.”

    * * * *

    Racing to the outside and picking up their sparrows on the way out, they came to the exit of the ship. What they say was a small void orb grabbing many Cabal and fire from both the Dawnblade and the Hammer of Sol raining down on them relentlessly. The way into the permanent base was open, and once they left the ship, they could see Alexander, Cid, and Sarah on the rocks waving at them and wishing them luck.

    “Be careful you guys! Now comes the harder part.” Ghost translated.

    “I would’ve thought the whole ‘stop the sun from being destroyed thing’ would be the hardest part.” Ash replied.

    “He didn’t say hardest. Just harder.” Sarah answered.

    “Newsflash folks.” Cayde suddenly announced, “The Fallen on the move. Seems like they didn’t learn their lesson the first few times.” He started to mumbled now, “Those scavenging vultures those Fallen. Always turn up when you don’t want em. Kinda like a Warlock when you’re um…. uh…”

    “Go on.” Ikora chided.

    “Yes Cayde, go on. I want to hear this.” Cid added.

    “No. Nope I think I’m done.” Cayde quickly backed out.

    “Damn, I wanted to hear the rest!” Ash whined as they parked their sparrows behind some crates in the entrance hall. Despite the efforts on the outside, as they ran further in they could see the Fallen had still managed to get inside and were in battle with the remaining Cabal. It was easy to take advantage of the battle and destroy both armies in one fell swoop. Through the dim halls they came to another hall with a window along it. They could see one ship left, and it was most likely the one they were after.

    They turned to the left and started to bash their way towards the airfield. Nothing could slow down their advance, the Fallen and Cabal armies both weak and scattered. Each attempt at resistance was gunned down or met with a speeding Striker Titan. It didn’t take long before they came to the open airfield. The wind caught their robes, their capes, their marks, reminding them all that this was the point of no return. Once they stole that ship at the end of the docks, they weren’t coming back until the Almighty was destroyed. If they failed, they weren’t coming back at all.

    Gale now certainly felt butterflies in her gut. She had full confidence in Ash, but Red…

    “Well… you all ready to go to the sun?” she asked.

    “Never thought I’d be saying this ever, but yeah… yeah I am.” Ash let out a small sigh. Perhaps she was starting to feel the weight as well.

    “Here goes nothing…” Gale mumbled as she glided over to the ship and summoned her ghost, “We made it to the ship.” She announced as the Ghost got to work.

    “Great! This is the part where you ‘borrow’ it!” Cayde instructed.

    “Like how you borrowed Eris’ ship? You know she’ll want a replacement.” They could almost hear Ikora raising an eye brow at him.

    “Eris loves me! She’ll be fine!”

    “I’m surprised she hasn’t killed me or anyone else yet for that stunt.” Cid added.

    “You were told that he borrowed it, not stole it.” Ikora replied.

    “I at least didn’t crash it! That was all you guys! Would’ve been fine if you guys didn’t crash it!” Cayde argued.

    “In my defense, I wasn’t driving, and we didn’t crash it. The Cabal shot us down.” Cid replied.

    Ash started laughing, “When we get back Cid, you need to tell me this story. This sounds amazing.”

    “There’s not much to tell, other than Cayde needs to rework his version of ‘borrowed’ and ‘it’s fine.’”

    Gale started to giggle. She already knew this story, and she knew the chaos that followed. Honestly she didn’t mind this banter, as for a moment she forgot about her nerves going into this.

    “Alright, enough arguing. Alexander, Sarah, Cid, start pulling out of there. We’ll need your help preparing for the assault on the City.” Ikora instructed.

    “Will do.” Ghost translated, “Be careful you three.”

     Winter had been scanning the panel on the outer shell of the ship for a bit now, and it was becoming clear that there were some problems he had to try and work through. They could hear a roar from the remaining Legion inside the base. They looked at Red, gave him a small nod, and the Titan charge forward to meet the Legionaries at the other end of the airfield. Ash ran to be in the middle, and Gale stayed back to stand her ground and be the last line of defense.

    What followed was a display of fire, lightning, and steel. The Titan tore through the smaller Legionaries like they were nothing. Anything that got past him was met with the steel of Ash’s sword. She felt now how the steel met some resistance, even though she had sharpened it. It seemed that her trusty sword was finally meeting its end, but it would last until the war was over, win or lose. If they got past the fury of steel, they were met with the Sunshot, and once enough got too close, the Stormcaller channelled her Light into chains of lightning that destroyed every last Cabal within her reach.

    The army was soon nothing but dust. Any Cabal left in that base would run to the city and tell the stories of how Guardians got back their Light, and how they were even deadlier than ever.

    “Got it!” The little ghost chirped when the dust finally settled, “We’re in and it’s now set to go to the Almighty!”

    “Good job.” Gale smiled at him as he bumped his shell light against her helmet. As he transmatted away, she turned around to face Ash and Red, “There’s no coming back after this. Not until it’s over. You ready?”

    “We got this!” Red gave her a thumbs up.

    “I’m as ready as I’m ever going to be. You?” Ash asked.

    “Yeah…” Gale let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, “I’m ready. Let’s get this done.”

    They climbed up to the top of the ship, opening a hatch, and jumped down. The front seat was meant for a huge cabal, so it was able to fit the three Guardians perfectly. Gale summoned forth Winter to start the ship into motion, taking a deep breath in to help calm her nerves as it started to lift up.

    “Hey! I see you guys!” Ghost translated, “You did it!”

    “Well done you three. You know what to do, get onto the Almighty and shut it down before it’s too late.” Ikora instructed.

    “In the meantime, we’ll get into position around the city. It’s time for Ghaul’s last dance.” Cayde announced.

    “We’ll get it done.” Gale replied with as much confidence as she could muster.

    “You guys worry about the army of Cabal and the big boss. We got the Sun Destroyer.” Ash added as she took off her mask to wipe the sweat from her brow. She pulled back her hood and looked over at Gale, “We got this. I know we do.”

    Gale reached up and took off her own helmet, looking at the Hunter with determination in her features, “I know.”

    “Well while we’re in here, kinda realized I don’t know too much about you. So want to play 20 questions on the way there?”

    “Sure. Ask away.”

    She wouldn’t mind the distraction there. She didn’t know too much about the tiny hunter either, even though they were on friendly terms. They never really had the chance to work together until now either. All the way there, they swapped a few stories, both finding themselves missing the City. It was a distraction at least from the high risk mission they were going to try and pull off.

    Red however was more busy being lost in his own little world.


	17. Revolution

    “So… this is it huh?”

    Sarah asked that on the mountainside they had once fled through looking down upon the city. The two men stood on her left, watching the Cabal go in and out of the hole in the wall they had used as an escape passage, one by one, to flee into the mountains. Now here they were again, this time waiting for the signal to slip inside and burst the Cabal’s bubble. They could see the command ship hanging over the city next to the caged Traveler, and the parasite still clinging to its outer shell.

    “Yeah… it really is.” Cid’s eyes were trained on that ship, “Wasn’t sure for a while if we’d make it this far if I’m perfectly honest.”

    “We did though, that’s what’s important. And it won’t be long before Gale, Ash, and Red will bring down the Almighty, I’m sure of it.” Ghost translated.

    “You must be itching to get a second go at Ghaul.” Sarah commented. He filled them in early on what happened on that command deck.

    “I didn’t get a go at him. I got my light taken then kicked across the deck like a ragdoll. He said to me that we didn’t deserve the power we were given. I’d like to prove him wrong.”

    “And kick him in the teeth?”

    “If he has any.”

    “Oh don’t worry, we’ll kick him there, and then some. Judging by their moves on Io… it’s not going to be an easy fight either way.” Cid commented.

    “I didn’t think for a second it would be.” Ghost translated, “Any last minute advice?”

    “Hit him where it hurts, and no matter what happens, defy him at every turn.” Cid folded his arms and scowled at the parasite, “If he gives a speech, he’s an overconfident asshole and will be reckless. If he doesn’t, then we have to be a bit more creative and careful.”

    “Don’t let down your guard.” Sarah added, “He’ll throw all sorts of curve balls at us, guaranteed.”

    “Got it.” Alexander turned his gaze to the stars, “Just a little longer now…”

* * * *

    The sun was blinding. The Warlock and the Hunter put back on their protective helms as the ship started to enter an automatic landing mode. They could see the weapon’s shadow looming before the sun, a beam reaching back to Mercury and grinding it to dust to fuel the machine. It seemed like they were getting ready to destroy the sun already, and their time limit just got shorter.

    Ash reached over to the nervous Warlock’s hand and gave it a small squeeze. She’d seen Cid do this before to calm her nerves, and it seemed to work this time as well.  The motion even calm some of the nerves she was starting to feel. It was all or nothing here. If they failed here, it was all over. No second chances.

    They felt the ship slow down, slide into the landing dock and finally come to a stop. Ash climbed up to open the hatch and a few gunshots rang out, killing all of the workers that saw her. The three of them climbed up and found themselves taken aback for a moment. They could feel the scorching heat out here through their suits. They could look up and see the sun outside of the force field that protected them loosely from all of the horrible things that should be happening to them from being this close. They were standing next to the fuel stream coming from Mercury through a tube glowing a bright blue. Even Red’s little world had a hard time giving him an answer, an image, for what it could be.

    “You know, when I signed up to be a Guardian, I did not sign up to be only a few clicks away from the sun!” Ash shouted. Gale could hear the fear in her voice, even though the hunter tried to hide it.

    “I don’t think any of us did Ash. Let’s follow this fuel stream. It’ll probably lead us to the central core where we can shut this thing down.” She replied, forcing herself to be calm even though she certainly was not.

    They jumped down to a lower platform and were greeted with Cabal that had rushed over to see the commotion. They were met with the fury of those Guardians who didn’t have time to be slowed down by anything or anyone. They received no mercy, the Sunshot was even more effective in this searing heat, and even normal bullets started to burn so hot it was starting to cauterize the wounds. Down onto another catwalk, up onto a platform with a retracted bridge they blasted right through the resistance. Even the ground turret didn’t last long with the three of them gunning it down. Here Gale ran to a console and Winter tried to work as fast as he could to get it extended across the fuel line so they could go further in.

    “Hey Red…” Ash looked up at him, “Soon as she’s done that, there’s probably gonna be a lot of them. Go smash, but don’t fall off. We can’t save you if you fall off.”

    “Ok!” Red replied rather cheerily. As Ash predicted, once the bridge started moving, Threshers started to move in, most of them simply dropped off the soldiers and war beasts they carried, but one of them stuck around. Red did as was told and charged into the fray; the Arc energy was only spurred on by the heat around them. Gale ran after him, but quickly found herself ducking behind cover of the larger corpses Red had left behind as the Thersher opened fire on her.

    Ash gritted her teeth as she looked up at the ship. They didn’t have time to be messing around and be shooting at the heavily armoured Thresher. Instead, even though it might be a bit of a waste of her power, she summoned forth her Golden Gun and fired. The impact went clean through the Thesher, bringing it crashing down onto the fuel line and exploded. Ash let out a small scream as some of it came flying back up like a horrible water leak. She felt Gale grab her arm and pull her out of the way of the energy and rock starting to rain down on the bridge.

    “You ok?” Gale asked. Ash gave a nod, “Good. We need to be a bit more careful.”

    “Since when it careful in our job description?” Ash asked with a small laugh, but understood her point. The women quickly caught up with Red who had done a good job at decimating the Cabal while they were gone. They ducked inside a door, finally finding some relief from the heat outside.

    “Our forces are moving into position outside of the city walls.” Zavala radioed, “Your signal will start the assault.”

    “Got it.” Gale replied, “Alex? How are you holding up?”

    “Don’t worry about me. I’m ready for this. We’re a lot more worried about you three.” There were some beeps before Ghost translated for him.

    “We’ll be alright. I promise.” Part of that sentence was to comfort him, and part of it was to comfort herself and the other two.

    The hallway took another small turn and then opened up into a large room. Gale started to realize that the sand and rock lining the room was Mercury itself, even Vex technology was buried in the compacted soil. To the right seemed to be a large processor or grinder that the rock came out of, and on the far end was the controls for the machine.

    Ash ran over to the large processor and peered inside. It seemed that it ground up the rock and then filtered what was left out and into the weapon itself. If they followed that, they should get even closer to the core in theory, but there was a slight problem…

    “Well, we’re not getting through those tiny holes.” Ash commented. They was a large rock pile that hadn’t been ground up yet, and probably wouldn’t be unless they turned it on themselves considering the mess they had made. She climbed out of the machine and ran to the control panels on the other side where the other two were waiting. They could see a projection of Mercury being slowly torn apart by the Almighty. There was also an opened round slot beside a console Gale and her ghost seemed to be fiddling around with.

    “They’ve been busy, huh?” Ash asked as she looked at the projection. She didn’t even notice the Titan opening up some cases along the back wall until he was right beside her holding onto what seemed to be a fuel cell with glee.

    “Look what I got!” He suddenly said, startling her and the Warlock

    “You do realize that’s probably really dangerous and unstable right?” Ash asked pointing at it.

    “Huh, then maybe I should really put this down, shouldn’t I?” He looked over at the slot, “I’ll bet it fits in there!”

    “Wait! Don’t-!” Gale tried to reach over and stop him, but he already had shoved it inside. Luckily for them, it was just the thing needed for the drill to roar to life, closing itself up and starting to grind and clear the debris inside. The girls looked at him, dumbstruck for a moment.

    “Don’t… don’t ever do that again.” Gale sighed, even though it was very likely he wouldn’t listen.

    There was a roar from the other end of the room. It seemed that more Cabal had made their way to the other side of the Almighty where they came from and were now storming the room. Red charged in first as usual and proceeded to try and start punching things in the face instead of shooting them for whatever reason only Red knew. Gale sighed a little behind her helmet and ran straight at the crowd, calling forth her own storm and clearing them away from the idiot savant. Ash hardly needed to fire a single shot as the Warlock decimated everything in her way. It didn’t take long for the dust to settle afterwards.

    “You know, I could get used to working with you.” Ash complimented as she walked up to the Warlock.

    “Oh, well…” The woman looked to the side, “I uh… take that as a compliment?”

    “Well it is one.” Ash reached up to poke her helmet. They turned towards the grinder as it came to a halt and opened up, “That’s our cue I guess. You want to take point?”

    Gale nodded and ran up to the grinder to peer inside. The rock and debris had been cleared and they could now slip inside. As they walked forward they could see at their feet the corpses of Vex who were unfortunate enough to be caught in the fuel stream and couldn’t escape. None of them liked the Vex of course, but a small bit of consciousness came to Gale, thinking about them flailing about, screaming for help only to be torn to pieces.

    “Zavala, your group is in position.” Ikora suddenly piped up over the radio, knocking her out of her thoughts.

    “Understood, everyone prepare to go radio silent. We don’t want to give our enemies any warning.” Zavala instructed.

    “There’s still plenty of time, we’ll get it done.” Cayde added

    “Guardians… I will do all I can to reclaim our home. If we do not speak again… know how proud I am of all of you for what you’ve done.” Zavala’s voice was gentle and grave. What followed was some beeping and the familiar Ghost voice.

    “Hey, don’t be talking like that. We’ll get through this. I know we will.” Ghost translated, “You guys can do it up there. I know you can.”

    Gale found herself taking another deep breath as she pressed forward. They were certainly piling on the pressure, even if they didn’t mean to.

    The tunnel opened up to a large room full of the ground rock. A door opened to their right and the unlucky Cabal was quickly gunned down. The rest of the hallway was strangely empty, which was a nice surprise, but each door along it was locked. As they drew closer to the end they could see out the window just how close they were to the sun. The weapon was warming up and starting to fire, causing all sorts of nuclear material to rain down on the deck. There was a door to their left. It led outside into the fires that battered the Almighty, and unfortunately it seemed to be the only way forward. It was the only unlocked door and the Ghosts couldn’t unlock the others.

    “So… we gotta go… out there…” Ash’s voice had a slight tremble in it. Gale took a deep breath and let it out as she turned to the other two.

    “Stick together, no matter what happens.” She instructed, “And Red, if you got barging off of the side or die, we can’t come save you, and there won’t be any coming back.”

    He didn’t give much of an answer, but they didn’t have the time repeat instructions. Gale offered Ash her hand the Hunter gladly took it. As soon as they opened the door they could feel the searing heat outside and the force entering the door. Gale squeezed that hand tight and ran straight out into the storm. They could see lifted platforms they could take shelter under, but no matter what they had to run through the fire to get to the other side.

    Gale couldn’t stop the scream that came out of her mouth when the first flame hit her. She felt it melting the material on her leg. She wasn’t sure how she was alive, perhaps some madness of the Light, as she felt her entire being heating up and more fire fell down on her. She imagined that the gravity should’ve also been pulling her apart as well. The only reason she didn’t straight up catch fire she thought was because of the lack of oxygen where they were. She could hear her scream being echoed behind by Ash whose tiny body was being battered by the nuclear fire. Her armor was melting, glowing in the heat and all she could do was hold onto Gale’s hand and let the Warlock guide her forward. Gale felt her heart wrench hearing the woman in so much pain. Red was on their heels, yelling at the top of his lungs as his armor also melted and glowed hot.

    Another scream came out as Gale led them to the first shelter. The material on her arm was melting onto her, and she could only imagine how raw the skin must’ve looked underneath. She could hear and Winter healing her now that they were under cover. Even still she felt the material was so rough now against her skin, and would only get worse.

    “Come on! Next one!” Gale yelled back at them. She felt her hand being squeezed as they ran back out and bolted for the next shelter. Gale kept her eyes on the ground, fearing the bright sun would blind her if she looked at it. More of the fire rained down on her back, making her scream and urging her to go faster. She could feel Ash’s hand squeezing even tighter, and wondered for a moment if the Hunter was going to break her hand.

    Beneath the next shelter they could see the entrance back inside on their right, through glowing patrolling Cabal who also struggled in these conditions. It was a long run to their destination, but no one wanted to start up a shooting match in this.

    “On three, we run for the door ok?” Gale bellowed behind her once her ghost healed her wounds, “One! Two! THREE!”

    They made a break for it, screaming at the top of their lungs. It strangely made it easier to deal with the pain they felt and keep running. Gale felt her armor melting against her skin more and more, burning it all over with horrible third degree burns. She felt her entire right side screaming in agony as it couldn’t escape the melted thermal suit and robes and she kept moving. Even her helmet was starting to melt on her right side, burning her cheek and making her scream even louder. She didn’t dare turn to see Ash who was also screaming in agony. She was sure the Hunter was in even more pain, and even Red couldn’t stop his painful yelps.

    The Cabal tried to shoot at them, stop them from making their escape, but the three of them dove into the door to safety, and they could hear a Ghost going up to the electronic lock and sealing the door behind them, keeping them relatively safe. As they lay there, Gale could feel Ash holding her hand in a death grip and hear small whimpers and cries from the woman who clearly had been terrified the entire time. Red leaned against the door, huffing as he tried to catch his breath. She herself was out of breath, panting as her ghost healed her burns and separated the material from her skin.

    “Never again…” Ash mumbled as she panted. “Fuck… never again…”

    “Hey…” Gale softly whispered as she squeezed Ash’s hand in return. She reached over and pulled the woman into a hug, “You’re ok. You’re alive.”

    “Y…Yeah…” Ash nodded as she reached over to hug the Warlock back. Somehow the hug made her feel a bit safer, but the Hunter would be having nightmares for weeks after this.

    They didn’t have much time to lay there and recover. As soon as they could, they all stood up and felt how uncomfortable the melted material was against them. There was no salvaging these clothes, but they would have to do until it was all over. At least they were now given the small mercy of an empty hall to run down.

    “It’s time for me to go Guardians.” Ikora piped up over the radio. “You know your paths. You don’t need us anymore. If my journey ends today… then I face it gladly.”

    “Hey, stop talking like that.” Cid argued, “You’re the Warlock Vanguard. You’ll get through this.”

    “If anyone can, it would be you Ikora.” Gale told her, “All of you.”

    There was still no one going through another door until they looked to their right. They were standing above what seemed to be another processor, only this one turned the ground up dust into pure energy for the weapon. They could see the tubes leading out into the core where the weapon was firing up. Workers littered the ground, each one armed but distracted.

    “Gale… I have a really stupid idea.” Ash said.

    “…you want to ride in the tubes?” Gale asked.

    “We survived the sun raining down on us, and we clearly need to get going…. this seems like a nice shortcut.”

    Gale sighed. At this point, so long as they lived, she was willing to try. Anything to get the weapon shut down and them off of it was preferable. They looked at each other, quietly counted down and made a sprint for those tubes. Only one of them was open, and as they ran by the Cabal started to shout and shoot at them. They were not fast enough as the three of them ran straight inside of the tube and were quickly carried away.

    They found their breaths being taken away as they went shooting through it. The energy around them pushed them through the pressured glass. They could see the Almighty aimed right at the sun all the while blue energy rushed past them and pushed them forward. Gale could feel her heart beating out her chest as she too in the full sight of the sun as she was rushing beside it.

    Suddenly they were dropped down into another floor. While the Warlock and Hunter landed gracefully, the Titan sent a tremor through the ground on his landing.

    “So I guess it’s time for me to go.” Cayde piped up suddenly, “And uh, I’m not too big on Goodbyes so… make it out alive ok? I need someone who gets my jokes.”

    “Hey, you better make it out alive too. I’m going to kick your ass in the next life if you don’t.” Sarah told him.

    “I second that!” Ash piped up.

    Diving deeper they dropped through a small hole in the floor to another. Just a few more steps in they came upon a number of Interceptors, all abandoned, and with nothing guarding them. Ash sprinted up to one of the vehicles to start it up.

    “It’s like they’re begging us to blow this place up!” she shouted, feeling another rush now they were nearing the end. Winter floated ahead to open the next door while the Guardians climbed onto the machines and powered them up. It quickly transmatted back to Gale once it was open, and the very unfortunate guards on the other side were ran over. Cabal inside the hallways all were spooked by the speeding Guardians, and none of them could stop them from reaching the end of the hall and finally coming to their destination.

     The large room gave a good view of the sun and a beam that was firing into it. They could see on their left the large generator rapidly spinning, and a fan desperately trying to keep everything from overheating. They could feel the sheer amount of energy the beam gave off even on the floor below it. They also saw the sea of Cabal chasing after them and would surely soon cause a problem.

    “The fans!” Gale pointed at the first one they could see, “Take them out!”

    Between the three of them firing into the fan, it didn’t last very long. They raced around the outside of the large generator and on the other side they could see another fan working overtime to make up for the other fan’s destruction. They could also see a small army of Cabal waiting for them. Without a second thought or warning, Gale jumped right off of the inceptor and called forth the Storm, clearing out the Cabal much faster than simply shooting at them.

    “I thought that was your job Red!” Ash shouted, but she wasn’t going to complain. The Titan and the Hunter made quick work of the next fan. They turned around to see one more placed on the inside of the generator that was wide open. With very few Cabal left to stop them, it went down in only a matter of seconds. As soon as they did that and the fan came to a screeching halt, they could feel the heat off of the entire machine starting to overheat, but they could also see that the weapon was still active. They didn’t have time to wait around until it blew itself up.

    “There’s a passage inside!” Gale shouted as she caught up with the other two who were climbing off of their machines. She pointed to the inside of the fan they just blew up, “Maybe we can find a way to speed up the process!”

    They ran inside, pushing past any remaining Cabal. Sure enough there was a small door the lead to a ramp, and those same fuel cells from the processor littering the floor. Ash quickly picked one up and led the way up the ramp. As far as she was concerned, those fuel cells had to go somewhere, they were radioactive and unstable, and it they were to be thrown into an unstable machine that was quickly heating up, it would cause internal explosions and that would be the end of the Almighty. At least, in theory.

     As she came to level ground she felt the blazing heat radiating off of the pipes that wove around her in the tight hall. She gritted her teeth together, feeling more of her armor starting to melt again, and let out a loud war cry in response. She could feel her feet burning up beneath her which prompted her to run faster. At the end she could see the blue burning energy that powered the entire core, and a very handy slot for her to throw the cell in.

     The Hunter let out a screech at she threw the cell in with all the strength her tiny body had. She felt the entire machine shake beneath her feet, followed by more tremors and violent shakes from explosions. They could see they were now right beneath the beam that quickly fizzled out and became no more as the system reached critical failure.

    “Run! Run!” Gale shouted as she jumped up onto the roof of the hall they had just been in. The three of them made a sprint for the end, feeling the entire weapon glow and heat up. More explosions from the inside made it harder not to stumble.

     “I’m calling the ship here! We just need to make it to the end of this platform so it can reach us!” Winter bellowed amidst the chaos. The platform to did extend past most of the machine, which made it a perfect perch for a getaway. The problem was getting there as they felt the machine creak and groan, threatening to melt down and fall apart. The floor beneath them was giving off enough heat to start melting the soles of their boots, even as they ran. Gale could hear her heart beating in her ears and hammering through her chest as they got closer and closer to the end.

     As soon as she had sight of the Thresher they used to get there, Gale leaped up and glided right to the hatch with the Hunter and Titan right on her heels. She opened it up in record time, and fell in. Red closed the hatch behind her, and by that time she already was shoving the thrusters into drive and getting away from the Almighty as fast as she could.

    “Zavala…” Gale panted and she took off her helmet to get some air to cool herself, “The weapon is destroyed! Start the attack!”

    She knew she would get no answer, but dearly hoped that they got her message. She could hear Ash panting beside her as she took her mask off and slumped again the back of the seat.

    “H-Holy…. fuck Gale… we did it. And we’re all alive…” Ash mumbled between her breaths.

    “Yeah… yeah we did…” Gale leaned back against the chair now, feeling her heart beating against her chest. She then heard a little laugh from Ash. It was probably her relieving some of the stress she had felt throughout the entire thing.

    “Next time we have to go to the sun, we should let the other three do that.”

    Gale couldn’t help but laugh a little, “They can deal with it next time, yes.”

    There was still one last thing left to do however. That was to retake their home. She put the Thresher into hyperdrive and let it take them back to the city. They would have some time to recovered, but soon they would go charging right back into the fray.


	18. Rise

    The City was silent. In the ruins of buildings there wasn’t a living soul to be seen or heard. On the cracked roads next to the collapsed hospital the Cabal patrolled quietly, making their rounds, looking for possible invaders. There were more of them now. The word had gotten out that a Stormcaller, a Gunslinger, and a Striker were active on the Almighty, and now were scanning the skies for them.

    They didn’t know about the three other Guardians lying in wait for them.

    Quietly they waited for their signal. The plan was simple on their side. They were the big distraction, the big eye catcher. They purposely separated themselves from the main group so the majority o the Cabal would go after them. While that happened, the rest of their army would start to invade near the command deck and the Vanguard would set up the teleporter. Though they did try to argue that they should be the ones to set it up, Cayde insisted that he could probably set it up faster than Cid could. (Which prompted the biggest eye roll from both Cid and Sarah that they could muster.) They could agree though that they would be a great distraction that could afford to be killed.

    Once they heard that everyone was in position Sarah aimed her Sniper at the head of an Elite Cabal leading a patrol group. She was perched on the top of a rubble pile, lying on her stomach, waiting for them to walk right where Cid and Alex were lying in wait. The Cabal stopped turned to give some instructions, but would never finish them as Sarah took the shot. When the creature fell over, the others started to look frantically around only to receive flurry of bullets from the Warlock and the Titan as a response. One of them got away and was fleeing into the city, just like they wanted.

    “Now to hurry up and wait. There won’t be quite as many soon.” Sarah radioed.

    “A bunch of them are already running off to meet you, which makes life easier for us, but for you guys? Gonna be a tough fight to meet up with us.” Hawthorne replied.

    “We know. You guys just do what you have to. We’ll get there.” Ghost translated.

    “Sarah, start moving ahead. Try to keep the big ones off of us.” Cid called up to her. Sarah nodded and started to run along the rubble, jumping from pile to pile. The two on the ground gave her a bit of time before running towards the command ship that was their final goal. They could already hear the booming steps of the Cabal coming to meet them and over another rubble pile they could see them there.

_When it comes time, I want you to show them what being a Guardian really means._

    Alexander summoned forth a Hammer of Sol, but instead of throwing it, he charged straight into the crowd. He smashed it into one of their heads, the heat cauterizing the wound. He felt some bullets hitting him, but ignored the pain as he smashed through the small army. He could see a small void orb up ahead, but it was not Sarah’s usual tether. Usually the hunter rather not use her Light in the fashion she did with grenades, but this was supposed to be a flashy distraction.

    Another swing of the hammer smashed into the Cabal who were being cut down every which way. He felt the searing heat around him, but it was not his Light that was causing the fires to spring up. He could hear Cid above him dive into the army further ahead, and hear the rush of flames rising up around him. He looked up to see the Cabal running in terror as they were all set on fire. The ones that fled out of Alexander’s reach were met with a void arrow and a tether grabbing them and slowing them down. The void energy eating at them made the fire burn more painfully. Before any of them had a chance to get away Alexander threw his hammer right in the middle and the force instantly killed them.

    He cut through to where the Warlock stood in the middle of his fires. There was an empowering rift at his feet, and it just made the sword cut through the Cabal faster and easier. Alexander threw another hammer into the crowd ahead as the Warlock spun about, slicing the creatures that dared to get close to try and take him down. It also sounded like Sarah had dropped to the back of the crowd and begun to assassinate the backliners, making them confused on which Guardian to kill first, and made it all the more easier to take them out.

    It wasn’t long before they came to the end of the small army. The three met up once more then ran towards that ship they were after with Alexander leading the way. He still had hints of Sol around him as they made a dash towards the buildings that still stood. They had to get to higher ground and make sure the Vanguard weren’t killed, especially before that teleporter was up and running.

    “You guys made quite the show!” Sarah shouted.

     Ghost manifested himself as Alexander talked, “I think so! There will be more coming after us I’m sure. Zavala! Cayde! Ikora! Are you guys on route?” Ghost radioed that last part even though they could overhear their conversation.

    “I’m in position and those two are on their way but we have a problem. While you guys made a huge show and got rid of some in our way, they seem to have other plans.” Cayde replied.

    “They’re funnelling us into little kill boxes! I’m working on putting down the barriers so they can keep moving, but these Guardians are going to need a hand!” Hawthorne explained.

    “We’re on our way!” Ghost shouted.

* * * *

     As the Thresher dropped out of hyperspace and entered the atmosphere, Gale could clearly see something was wrong. As they flew closer to the city they could see the cage around the Traveler had turned very red. Even Ash commented that it hadn’t been that bad when Sarah and she were sneaking around the City.

    “And here I was hoping for a small break…” Gale mumbled as she flew over the city. She could see sections below that were blocked by a force field and people fighting to stay alive. Biting her lower lip, she slowed the ship down to turn around. She had plenty of time to learn what the controls did on the way there and back, and she knew how to fire the Thresher’s weapons. She opened fire on the Cabal below that were keeping the Guardians at bay. Naturally the creatures didn’t expect it, and were very quickly downed.

    “Judging from the comms now asking why a Thresher is shooting its own guys, I’d take it as you’re back with us?” Hawthorne asked.

    “We are.”Gale replied as she turned the Thresher around. She could sense the other three as she flew on, “Somehow or another.”

    “Are we ever happy to hear from you.” Ghost translated, “You guys pulled it off and didn’t die!”

    “We’re not out of the woods yet… but thank the Traveler you guys are back in one piece…” Sarah sighed.

    “I know this is a bit of a dumb question but I have to ask, are you guys alright?” Cid asked.

    “Uh… define alright.” Ash sighed, “Half of our stuff’s melted after running through a nuclear rainstorm, so that’s a slight problem.”

    “Wait, what?!” Sarah raised her voice a little.

    “Long story, tell you later.”

    Gale slowed down the ship over a roof top, landed it, and the three of them climbed out. It was doubtless that the Red Legion would fire on them now anyways or a group of Guardians would. They looked down to the ground, gave each other a nod, and jumped right off of the roof. Ash jumped a second time just before hitting the ground while Gale glided to safety. Red came down shortly after, but suddenly went running off to the left after some Cabal he saw in the alley.

    “Red!” Gale called after him.

    “Hey, he survived the fucking sun. He’ll be fine. We gotta get to the Vanguard!” Ash shouted. Gale took one look at the Titan who was already ploughing his way through, then turned to run after Ash. The first thing they came upon was another ‘kill box’ as Hawthorne dubbed it. They could see a few Guardians hiding behind some rubble to recover while Cid, Alexander, and Sarah were shooting at a crowd of Cabal in front of one of their barriers. Gale ran ahead and struck one of them with her Stormtance. Before the others could react, the Stormcaller had torn through all of them. She turned to see a larger one jumping from the roof to meet her, but was quickly killed by a blast from Ash’s Golden Gun, who saw them long before they jumped down.

    “Hey! Are we glad to see you!” Ghost chirped before looking at the state of their armor, “Oh… you weren’t kidding when you said melted.”

    “No, we weren’t.” Gale shook her head a little, “Physically we’re fine though.”

    She suddenly let out a small squeak when she was wrapped up in a hug from Cid. Usually she was the one to give out hugs, so naturally it surprised her to get one from the other.

    “You were that worried huh?” Ash asked him with a small smile. She let out a small yelp of her own when Sarah suddenly had her arms around her and was squeezing her tight. She wondered just what was going through their heads while they were on the Almighty, wondering and worrying after they finally cut the feed. To hear Gale say that the attack should start must’ve been a relief…

    “We were you dolts. It’s the fucking sun.” Sarah mumbled before she let her go. Cid also quietly loosened his arms so Gale could leave the hug when she wanted. He didn’t have to say a word, she knew how worried he was.

    They turned around as they heard a fizzle. The barrier had finally gone down. Their little reunion would have to wait until the last part was over. They quickly raced through with the other Guardians to the other side. There were more Cabal waiting for them there, but with the fury of bullets from the small army, they didn’t have a chance.

   “Cayde! Is the teleporter set up yet?” Zavala bellowed through the radio.

  “Uh… ack!” there was a sound of a spark on the other side when Cayde yelped, “Uh, yep! Almost ready!”

   “I knew it! Never send a Cayde to do a Hawthorne job!” Hawthorne mumbled.

  “Heard that poncho!”

  Through the ruined streets they ran. The five Guardians managed to get past one more barrier, but as soon as the other followers came close, it went back up again. They begun to radio that they were blocked, but none of the fire team that made it through had time to wait for them. They instead pressed forward.

    “Cayde! We see Cabal flanking your position!” Zavala yelled through the comms.

    “Damn it! Next time you fix the Vex tech while being shot at!” Cayde muttered.

    “I did offer.” Cid reminded him, “Just keep your head low. We’re on our way.”

    They ran through the remains of a marketplace. Streamers and banners were still set up, but torn and burned. Boxes and crates were scattered about without a care. They could see evidence of people dying here, but the bodies had been moved and cleaned up since then. Up more stairs they could see how arches had crumbled, and more evidence there had been a bloodbath here, but no bodies. There were also no Cabal, but perhaps that was because they were much more occupied with the army pounding at their doorstep and the Vanguard that was setting up a way inside their precious ship.

    “Ikora and I made it to the rally point but we’re surrounded!” Zavala bellowed.

    “I can either work on this or shoot, because they JUST SHOT OFF MY ARM!” Cayde yelled back.

    “Cayde! We need that teleporter! We can’t hold this position much longer!” Ikora shouted back at him.

    “They’re coming at us from all sides! We need your help Guardians!” Zavala yelled.

    “Just hang on a little longer!” Ghost translated as they ran into another building. Up the stone steps in the narrow hallway they raced as fast as they could to the top of the building. It wasn’t the tallest one as they quickly figured out once they got there, but the ones between them and the Vanguard set up were lined with balconies, and already they were starting to plan their route to get to their destination.

    “Guys… the Traveler.” Gale piped up. They all looked up to the parasite latching onto it, and they could see the tiny arcs of light coming off of it, and  the command ship parked right next it.

    “He figured it out. That’s the only explanation I can give.” Cid mumbled.

    Alexander glared at the parasite then turned his attention to the balconies. He had an idea on a quick way to get there, but they had to be light on their feet.

    “Got a path picked out big guy?” Sarah asked. Alexander gave a nod, “Lead on then. Let’s finish this. It’s over if he gets what he wants.”

     _I know._  “.  -.- -  . … / ..-  .- -. / - - . .-  ..- .-.  -.. ..  .-  -. …”  _Eyes up Guardians._

    He took a step back and then leaped off of the side, lifting himself to the first balcony. Along it he ran, hearing the footsteps of his comrades behind him, until he came to the end where he leaped over the gap to another building. He could see small towers that the Cabal had put up that made perfect platforms for them to jump onto. The speeding Titan landed on one them and sent a small tremble through it as he did so. From tower to tower he jumped until he came to the next balcony he lifted himself up to with ease.

    “Ikora, Cayde, if we don’t make it out of this alive…” Alexander started to hear them over the radio as they ran, “…know that I’ve never been prouder to be part of your fireteam!”

     “If we have to die… at least we will die in the shadow of the Traveler, old friend…” Ikora lamented. By now they were starting to run into the Cabal and were being fired upon.

    “WE’RE ABOUT TO DIE AND YOU’RE STILL MAKING SPEECHES?!” Cayde bellowed. Alexander could hear the others shooting behind him at the Cabal as they ran along the catwalks. The first unfortunate Cabal to be in his way ended up with a fist to their face and falling down to the ruins below.

      _Keep running, keep running… don’t let anything stop you!_ That mantra repeated over and over in Alexander’s head as he ran. There was no hesitation in his next leap to a roof top that was once an outdoor patio. Splinters of wood lined the ground where Cabal had clumsily barrelled through along with broken chairs and tables. The Cabal that were about to make the next jump were caught off Guard by the speeding Titan and were shoved off of the roof just from the force of him slamming into their bodies.

    One last jump to the balcony leading to the roof… He could see them starting to run around a corner to get to the Vanguard on the other side of the building. When he made the last leap, the Titan shoved two more off of the side of the building and shot the last one. He could hear a scream and a yelp on the other side. Once he turned the corner he saw them. Cayde was on the ground, missing both and arm and a leg, clearly in pain. Ikora was holding onto a railing for support, and Zavala was tossed into a cement planter by a Cabal. He saw the blade from that Legionary being extended to pierce the commander’s chest, he heard Ikora shout, and he acted without even a second thought. He summoned forth his hammer and threw it at the Cabal. The force knocked it over and embedded it into its head, and it moved no more.

    “- - .  .- .-..  .!”

    Alexander turned around to the rest of the Guardians who followed him. Ghost didn’t even need to translate for everyone to know he was calling for Gale to help. The Warlock pushed past everyone and threw down a healing rift for the commander, and then proceeded to run to Ikora and help her into it. Cayde reached over to the teleporter with his one good arm and opened it up for them, shining the Vex signature cubes to indicate it was active. His limbs were sparking, and he was clearly having trouble getting himself to the healing rift. Alexander quickly jogged over and dragged him into it. All three Vanguard seemed relieved to be inside it as it helped to heal their wounds. Unfortunately, it would do nothing for Cayde’s missing limbs.

    “Guardians… we can’t make the jump… it’s all on you now.” Zavala told them as he tried to catch his breath.

    “That’s a working… probably stable Vex gate!” Cayde explained as he pointed to the teleporter, “Will bring you nice and close to the big guy.”

    “Go…” Ikora mumbled, “For the Traveler… make it matter…”

    Alexander looked at his teammates and summoned his Ghost to translate, “We can’t just leave them here. They’re going to get killed.”

    “I’ll stay.” Gale immediately said, “I can take care of them.”

    “Not by yourself you’re not.” Ash piped up and she folded her arms, “Cayde is missing his limbs. He’s going to need Zavala to help him walk. I’ll help you.”

    “You sure Ash?” Sarah asked.

    “I’ve had my fun on the Almighty. I don’t want to leave Gale all alone on this rooftop. You guys go deal with asshat.”

    Alexander gave a nod, “Alright, see you in a minute. Be careful.”

    “We will. And Cid!” Ash called to the Warlock, “Give him a good slice for me since I won’t be there!”

    Cid cracked a small smile beneath his helmet, “Will do.”

    Alexander, Sarah, and Cid looked at each other and gave a nod, and jumped straight into the teleporter. Zavala and Ikora both were starting to get back up and help Cayde onto his one leg. Ash gathered the pieces that were shot off to fix later, but stopped at the sound of more Cabal starting to scale the building.

   “Hold these.” She said and shoved the pieces into Ikora’s arms. When she turned around, sure enough, there was a Cabal. She unsheathed her sword and sliced its head off, but she could feel how much effort it took. It wouldn’t last much longer, but it would have to do until the battle was over.  

    “I’ll watch this side, Gale you take the front.” Ash shouted back as they slowly started to make their way back down.

* * * *

    The entire time Red had just been having a field day. He found the mass army of Guardians and Civilians and lead on through them. He was killing Cabal left and right with punches and with his guns He hadn’t really realized that the others had already gone ahead to get to the big guy. He was simply having too much fun.

    To him, this wasn’t a battle ground, never was. Every battle wasn’t full of blood and gore. None of the screams of his enemies got through to him. This was all a game, a game his mind thought of to keep what little of it remained intact. So in a way, when Alexander said he was off in his own little world, he was correct. The blood that was shed, the guts, it was something else in his mind. It was as is someone laid a blanket over it for him. Following Cid through the mountains, the EXO lost his temper, but his mind turned it into him yelling at someone else. The gore on top of the mountain turned into glittering snow that had something hidden beneath it.

    It had to, it was that frail from his last life.

    He wasn’t made a target of the darkness however simply because he was a dolt. Someone like Xyer wouldn’t bother and simply would try to blow him up to get him out of the way. If they were to try, it would end very poorly for the Titan. Xyer would so easily break his mind in her hands and use him like a puppet if she tried to.

    But she wouldn’t, no one would, and with luck on his side, it made him the perfect Idiot Savant.

    He had been itching to use this rocket launcher he found. After Cid and Alex ran around trying to prevent him from using it, he had been looking for an excuse to do so. Honestly the set up couldn’t have been more perfect. There were so many of them on the street trying to gun them all down, and surely the explosion would cut down their large numbers even if just a little. These buildings were also standing, which limited their ability to run.

    The Titan was grinning ear to ear as he fired his rocket launcher, finally getting to see the rocket go flying…

    …and….

    …somehow…

    …missed.

    Everyone was appalled as they watched the rocket fly off into a neighbouring building instead of hitting the Cabal on the ground. Somehow, that Titan, missed an entire group of people like that. They were struggling to wrap their heads around that…

    But as all lucky people have it, somehow it worked out in their favour. The heard an explosion in one of the buildings, but to their surprise they were now watching it come down towards the army of Cabal. The creatures looked up, let out a cry, and then were al crushed beneath the rubble of the building. Every. Single. One.

    There was a pause, before everyone behind Red started to celebrate the lucky shot. The Titan turned around, rather confused as to why everyone was celebrating, but found himself able to bump his fist into the air happily in response.

     He at least would get his 15 minutes of fame.

* * * *

    The teleporter dropped them off in a hallway of the ship. Alexander’s Ghost still had the map from last time and started to lead the way through. They quickly came to a door and stopped dead in their tracks when it opened to reveal a room full of War Beasts, those hounds that had chased them all over. But these beasts did not attack. In fact…

    “Wait!” Sarah quickly hushed the other two, “They’re sleeping… let’s try to sneak around.”

    The men quietly followed her steps, crouching down low. A few times Alexander nearly jumped out of his skin because he thought he woke them up, but it was merely them snoring. Around the outside of the room they crept until the finally reached the end. Sarah then pulled out a cover into another vent and they crawled through, slowly making their way up through the pipes and the shafts.

     _Thanks Ash._  She thought to herself. It was Ash who taught her that trick after all.

    She kicked out another one as they got close to the top deck. They could see the traveler out the window, and so far the Cabal hadn’t caught on that they were there.  The next room however was full of waiting Cabal, and the three of them ducked behind some crates to stay out of sight. Cid looked up at the ceiling that was lined with pipes. One of them was leaking steam, which gave him an idea.

    “Get ready to shoot them.” Cid mumbled as he took aim with the Scout Rifle at the lead. Once he fired, the pipe burst and steam filled the room. The Cabal had no chance and was quickly gunned down by the three of them before they had a chance to react.

    Through the smoke they walked right into an elevator which took them up and onto the top deck. This was a very familiar place to Alexander and he felt a spark light up inside of him being here again. On the other side however was something very strange. It was a pillar of energy. They could see the sheer size of the parasite now, glowing so bright as it powered this pillar. He supposed it was Light, but there was a blackness lacing it.

    “Cid? What is that?” Ghost translated.

    “It’s Light but… has he gone mad?” Cid asked as he shook his head in disbelief.

    “Well he tried to blow up the sun and take the Traveler so obviously he’s mad.” Sarah replied, folding her arms.

    “Not what I meant. Do you feel how much energy that is? Look at it being corrupted as it moves too! If he’s in there absorbing that much power, he’s going to kill himself!”

    “Are you serious? He’s taking so much that his body won’t be able to handle it and he’ll explode?”

    “Something like that, yes. This is absolute madness! Especially to someone who’s not a Light user!”

    Alexander glared right at the pillar, “Then let’s help speed up the process.” Ghost translated as he started to walk towards it. As he came to the center of the deck with the other two at his side, he heard that voice again. He remembered it loud and clear, and all it did was anger him.

    “Fitting that your Traveler would send  **you** to face me once more. I see you are also not alone this time.” Ghaul’s voice came from inside that pillar of Light, confirming Cid’s theory.

    “You remember me, I’m flattered!” Ghost translated as Alexander curled his hands into tight fists. He could feel his Light burning bright within him.

    “Hmph!” the pillar suddenly collapsed and sent out a wave of energy. None of the Guardians were even phased, glaring right back up at him. The Cabal leader stood up to his full height and took a step towards Alexander. “Look upon me, Dominus of the Red Legion, Annihilator of Suns, Razer of a Thousand Worlds, Slayer of Gods, and Conqueror of the Light! I! AM! GHAUL!” The man raised his arms, and reached his back to pull out his weapons, “And I have become legend!”

    “God slayer? Don’t make me laugh!” Cid shouted right back, “You’re just some megalomaniac with a God complex!”

  “Sorry pal. That was a nice speech, but time to die now.” Sarah raised her gun towards him.

   “My name is Alexander! And your Legend ends with my fist, in your face!” Ghost translated, yelling up at the Cabal as loud as he could.

    “Big words for a man who cannot speak for himself!” Ghaul bellowed as he took the first shot at them. They scattered from the blast and could hear doors opening on the ship meaning his soldiers were going to come and join the fight. Cid looked up and saw Ghaul lead into the air, summoning forth his own sword made of the Light, fire lacing his being as he sent slow waves down at Alexander who was easily able to dodge it.

    “That’s my trick asshole!” Cid shouted as his wings manifested. He flew straight into the air and dove at the Cabal leader. Ghaul turned and just in time was able to meet the Warlock’s sword, but much to his surprise, Cid was able to match his strength.

    “You think just because you sucked in some Light it makes you all powerful? Cause I don’t think you know what the hell you’re doing.” Cid hissed at him as sparks flew off of the two weapons.

    “You dare mock me?” Ghaul growled.

    “Come on God Slayer, you can take out one Warlock, can’t you?” Cid taunted right back. He then moved away from the Cabal leader, who could now see the wings spreading from his back. Ghaul took a swing at Cid, who met the sword perfectly. He knew that Ghaul was no experienced swordsman, and was able to predict the reckless swings and swipes in the air. He found himself clenching his jaw as the strength of the Cabal sent tremors through his arms every time the two weapons met. Sparks and molten metal fell down onto the unfortunate army below that was also dealing with two other Guardians.

    “YOUR TRAVELER SHOULD’VE CHOSEN ME! NOW IT IS TOO LATE! LOOK AT YOUR DEAD GOD CREATURE! IT WON’T SAVE YOU A SECOND TIME!” Ghaul bellowed a he took more swings at the Warlock.

    “You really love gloating don’t you?” Cid hissed back, “I hate those kinds of villains.”

    Cid saw his chance and quickly swung at his arm. The leader let out such a scream as the scorching metal went straight through the armor and into his flesh, burning it and stopping the blood at the same time. Before he could react, he then plunged the sword into the opposite shoulder and the Cabal leader lost his focus and fell to the deck, crushing a very unlucky Psion. Cid had no time to stay up there however as Ghaul reached over and pulled the sword out, throwing it back up at him. Cid dodged out of the way, but the next thing he knew, Ghaul’s sword was also rushing up at him and hit one of his wings. It effectively crippled his fight and sent him crashing onto the deck. He heard thundering footsteps of the enraged Cabal Leader running towards him as he scrambled to get back up. Cid turned around to see Ghaul right next to him, fuming about that stunt, and looked like he was ready to crush the EXO.

    “OI!” Sarah shouted. Ghaul turned and received a barrage of bullets from both her and Alexander, “FUCK OFF YOU BASTARD!”

    Ghaul raised an arm to help block the bullets, but then received a few more from the fallen Warlock. He snarled at Cid before leaping back out of the line of fire and running for that Pillar. It rose up around him in an instant, the Light inside now a bright blue for Arc. It quickly became apparent that they couldn’t shoot at him through that veil

    “MORE! MORE! I NEED MORE!” Ghaul bellowed out to heavens, following a scream. The three looked at each other as Cid got back up and joined them again.

    “Traveler he really is going to kill himself at the rate he’s going!” Cid shouted.

    “Too bad that’s going to undo all you did to him most likely.” Sarah hissed.

    “But it made a weak spot! Two of them!” Ghost translated. They braced themselves at the veil collapsed and the wind began to howl across the ship. They could hear more legionaries running across the deck as well.

    “Forgot to mention Alex, usually this sort of shit happens in waves of three for some reason.” Cid added as they dove out of the way of a ball made up of pure arc energy. Cid and Alex both went to the left, but Sarah went to the right. She took the chance to look up at the places where he had been pierced. They were large enough she could get a bullet inside… or…

    “YOU FAILED YOUR TRAVELER! YOU LET YOUR CITY DIE!” Ghaul taunted the two other Guardians on the ground as they shot up at him while dodging his men, “GIVE UP! YOU HAVE NOTHING TO FIGHT FOR! NOTHING TO DIE FOR!”

    Sarah had taken the time to get into a good position, took aim, pulled the bow back…

    “WILL YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP?” she screamed as she let the tether fly. It landed perfectly in the crack Cid had left behind in the arm and the Cabal screamed in pain as it expanded and grabbed hold of him, slowing him down. Sarah ran up behind him, jumped onto his back and plunged her knife into the crack left in Ghaul’s shoulder. All the while he was peppered with bullets that were denting and starting to pierce his armor.

    Suddenly Sarah felt him reach around and grab her by the cloak. He flung her to the far side of the ship, but Sarah wasn’t about to go down without a fight. She quickly reached back for her sniper, and took a shot at his head. The bullet pierced into the breathing mask and broke off a part of it, showing a mangled mouth that revealed his sharp teeth. He howled in pain, and Sarah let out a cry of her own when her back finally hit the deck. Ghaul was already retreating back to his veil as the boys were running to help Sarah back onto her feet.

    “You know how dangerous that was?” Alexander asked.

    “Like getting into a sword fight with a giant Cabal is any safer. All fucking bets are off with this guy.” Sarah grumbled as she stood up. A blood curdling scream echoed from Ghaul as he absorbed more energy that was now a deep purple.

    “GAAAAAAAH! THE LIGHT! AAAAAAHHHHHHH!”

    “You’d think he’d realize this was a horrible idea by now!” Sarah shouted.

    “No, he still thinks the pain is worth it. If he takes any more he really will die.” Cid replied.

    “Not if we kill him first.” Ghost translated.

    The veil went down once more and the three of them ran towards him. Suddenly the giant had used Blink to get close to them, and he stomped on the ground to throw them backwards. As Alexander fell to a lower part, he saw a flash of purple for a moment before everything went white. His ears rang as he lay there disoriented for a moment. Through the ringing he could hear Ghaul yelling, but it sounded so distant…

     “I PITY YOU! YOU HAVE NOTHING! YOU KNOW NOTHING OF SACRIFICE! NOTHING OF WORTH!”

      _Is that what you really think?_  Alexander thought as he stood up. He took off his helmet and shook his head a little to try and clear the haze. He could hear blasts, but the thing that brought him back to reality was the sound of Cid and Sarah crying out in pain. His eyes widened a little before hitting the sides of his head to try and clear his head. He scrambled back onto the battle field and saw that their weapons were scattered far from them. Cid had one arm up trying to shield Sarah from the incoming blast of Arc, but it wasn’t going to do much.

    “YOU ARE NOTHING! YOU WILL DIE AS NOTHING!” Ghaul bellowed down to them. Alexander felt something in him snap in that moment. That flame he felt earlier was now an inferno. He didn’t think twice as he drew from that flame to strike back against the Cabal before he could hurt them anymore.

    Ghaul felt something slam against his back and knocked him out of focus before he could blast the two Guardians scrambling to their feet. He turned around to see Alexander standing there with the same look on his face as when he kicked him off of the ship, except there was a fire burning in those blue eyes, and a hammer in his hand. His Ghost was right by his head, glaring at the much larger being.

    “YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN…!” Ghaul was cut off by the Titan finally getting fed up with his speeches and throwing a hammer right at his face. Ghaul raised his arm to shield himself from it, but he felt something breaking at the hammer hit him. When he looked again, Alexander was right up in his face, smashing another Hammer down onto his shoulder where Cid and Sarah both got him. There was a cracking of bone, the melting of metal and flesh and satisfying scream. Alexander felt himself being grabbed by the Cabal leader’s free arm. No matter how he tried, he couldn’t get free, and the giant threw him across the ship. He skidded across the deck on his back, but this time got back up right away, clenching his jaw. He could hear bullets being shot at Ghaul’s back, but the leader was far too furious with the Titan that should have died in the first place to take notice of the other two Guardians.

   “YOU HAVE NO VOICE! HOW CAN YOU COMMAND? HOW CAN YOU DO ANYTHING WORTHWHILE?”

     _I don’t need a voice to be a decent person or to kick your ass._

    Ghaul summoned his sword to charge at the Titan, but the man was completely unfazed. He already gone through this with Cid, and he didn’t hesitate for a moment to swing his hammer to meet the weapon. The two weapons were in stalemate once more, Alexander putting everything he had to counter it.

    “YOU ARE NOTHING!” Ghaul bellowed.

     _You are less than nothing._

    The two backed away from each other, but Alexander clenched his jaw and barrelled forward. He could feel fire burning off of his back, through his whole body, and in that moment he knew he had already won. The Hammer smashed into the man’s leg, breaking more metal and bone, then the other shoulder, then the chest, Ghaul couldn’t stop the Titan from smashing him. He tried to get up and shoot at the Titan, but all he was met with was another thrown hammer that smashed his breathing mask completely and made him fall over on his back.

    “You… damned… creature…” Ghaul groaned as he rolled to be on his front and tried to get back up.

    “I told you,” Ghost translated for Alexander as he walked up to him. As Ghaul looked up, all he got was a snarl, “My name is Alexander!”

     And just as promised, Alexander punched him right in the face and knocked him out. He then raised his weapon up with no hesitation and smashed it into Ghaul’s head, smashing the skull and destroying the brain. At that moment, Alexander didn’t care how gory it seemed, he just wanted the leader dead. Considering all he had done, this seemed almost too kind.

   The hammer fizzled out as he finally felt some exhaustion come over him. He turned to the other two, who looked at the Cabal leader as well. Both of them shared the sentiment that they were happy he was dead. Nothing else mattered. With him dead, the Red Legion would soon leave the City, and be forever crippled without a proper leader.

    “Well… we did it…” Sarah sighed as she took her mask off, “And Alex got to kick him down a few notches to boot.”

    “You did great.” Cid complimented as he took his helmet off and gave him a small smile. Alexander managed to give one back.

    “Now let’s go get that thing…” Ghost started to translate, but both Guardian and Ghost stopped when they heard a crack. They turned to the corpse to see it starting to glow a bright light. They quickly backed away from it and watched as a beam of light sprung up from it and started to manifest. It was wispy, ethereal, but it quickly turned into something horrible. It was the same man they had just killed, now in spirit form.

    “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” Sarah hollered, “How the fuck do we kill that?!”

    “I don’t have an answer for that…!” Cid shouted back.

    “TRAVELER!” Ghaul bellowed at the orb, “DO YOU SEE ME NOW?”

    “OH SHUT UP!” Sarah yelled back.

    “SILENCE!” Ghaul whirled around to face them, “I AM IMMORTAL NOW! A GOD!”

    “I’VE KILLED ONE BEFORE! THINK YOU’LL BE ANY DIFFERENT?” Cid shouted back up at him.

    “ENOUGH! ALEXANDER! YOU HAVE FAILED!” Ghaul pointed straight at the Titan.

    Alexander was about to protest, but he saw something. He saw a crack of light forming on the Traveler, cords from the parasite were starting to fray and snap. He tugged on Cid’s robes and Sarah’s cloak and pointed right at the cracks that were starting to form and become more plentiful.

    “W-Wait. W-What?!” Sarah started to stutter.

    “Is it actually…?” Cid asked, clearly just as shocked.

    “WITNESS THE DAWNING OF A NEW AGE!” Ghaul gloated.

    “HEY GHAUL! TURN AROUND!” Ghost translated for his Guardian. And Ghaul did turn around to the orb, saw it cracking open, shining a bright white light through it. He raised his hand up to shield his eyes. The Guardians on the deck could feel the sheer power just through those tiny cracks.

    “HIT THE DECK!” Cid yelled, and no one questioned it. They got down on their fronts, shielded their head with their hands, and shut their eyes. Whatever was going to happen, they knew they were about to be caught in it.

    “You… do see me…” they heard before another blood curdling scream came out of the Cabal leader, who was simply obliterated by the raw energy that the Traveler let out. It then seemed to explode with pure energy. Alexander could hear Cid and Sarah screaming as the force rushed past them and threatened to blow them right off of the deck. He didn’t dare open his eyes to see how bright everything was. He could hear the crashing and breaking of the parasite as fell to the ground and the force slowly pushed him back.

    Just as sudden as the pulse was, it was over. Everything was suddenly still and quiet. Hesitantly Alexander opened his eyes and looked up. What he saw was a bright light, and the Traveler slowly putting itself back together again. He stood up, shielding his eyes, but felt invigorated by being near the light. There was certainly no doubt that this was where it came from.

    He looked around as the rest of his fireteam was starting to realize it was safe and were also getting up. Morning had come, and they hadn’t even realized. The skies were bright, clear, a new day. Then there was a sound. The sound was of Guardians celebrating. The sound was a war cry as they finally had their Light back, their God was alive, and they were alive. As Cid and Sarah stood up, they heard the sound as well, and when they looked up, there was no sign of the spirit that was once Ghaul. He was gone.

    Sarah started to smile, throwing her hands up in the air and yelling at the top of her lungs. She never thought she would’ve been so happy to defeat something, to be alive, but that was what she felt. Cid started to laugh, his wings starting to spread a little as he also felt joy and relief that it was over. Alexander put a fist in the air, beeping what sounded like him celebrating. Those were echoed throughout the city by millions of people. There were sounds of Arcstriders, Blade Dancers, Void Walkers, Sun Singers, Dawnblades, Strikers, Gunslingers, Sentinels, all reclaiming their power and destroying their enemies with it. It was echoed by the Vanguard who were overjoyed that the worst was finally over, and their friends on the ground celebrating their success.

    Suddenly the Warlock and Hunter found themselves being pulled into a hug by Alexander, who was very happily cheering in his beeps. His Ghost was also zipping around, happy that they finally came to the end. Cid and Sarah looked at each other for a moment before sighing with a small smile and a shrug, giving into the hug and returning it to the happy Titan.

    The nightmare was finally over, but the nightmare of rebuilding had just begun.


	19. Epilouge

    The Speaker was eventually found, dead. After searching the command ship, Alexander happened upon the body and took it down to the ground. He was taken to the Vanguard before the battle was over in the city and he was put safely away. Later he was buried beneath the Traveler, as a way to be with the God he studied and preached for… even if his words were not that of the Traveler itself.

    There was celebration once it was confirmed the last Cabal were either dead or out of the city. The six Guardians reunited shortly after the Traveler woke up, the three on the deck receiving hugs from the women helping the Vanguard with their escape. People recognized those six as the ones that were key in making it all possible, and cheered them on as they marched through the ruins, singing as they chased the Red Legion out. Every ship was taken over and brought to the ground, and the skies were finally clear again.

    They could not celebrate long, as there was much clean up and recovery to do. Ikora kept her word, and when people were to go out and scavenge the rubble, she told them about the Thorn, and to destroy it on sight. With that motion, she finally repaired her friendship with Cid, who did forgive her as he said he would. The two of them worked together to rebuild the Library they loved so much as more and more was scavenged from the rubble.

    Cayde did get back his arm and leg. He also adopted a Chicken named Corneal who happily ran about the wall and the city during the reconstruction. One day he found an odd package at the bar on his break. Inside was a small, poorly made cape for his pet. It was from Ash, trying t make up for burning his cloak. With a laugh, he fixed up the Hunter’s poor needle work and put it on Corneal. He could appreciate that she at least tried.

     Red was finally given the rank of a fully fledged Guardian. It was well deserved after surviving the sun and Titan, but there were special conditions. He would never run a solo mission, and only a few people could run with him. He wasn’t all that helpful with rebuilding, but he at least did manage to win a few girls’ hearts who mistook him as someone capable.

    There was no shortage of jobs for Alexander. Working at Zavala’s side, he helped to rebuild the walls and learned about how the Vanguard worked. It seemed that he saw the same potential as Shaxx did in him. Alexander asked one day if he could meet the Sunbreakers, and a team was sent to investigate their grounds on Mercury, hoping that perhaps they had survived the Cabal and the planet breaking apart. The team came back with the news that the Sunbreakers were all dead, and the only thing they could salvage was a chest piece: The Hallowfire Heart. Alexander wore it proudly, knowing he was one of the last few to use the Light of the hammers.

    Ash’s research was completely destroyed, along with what little belongings she had. Everyone else was a similar story, but for Ash it hit hard knowing that she may never be able to recover any of it. She hoped that when the library was rebuilt, she would be able to recover at least most of the information in the Data banks, but only time would tell. Her sword did finally break in a battle trying to protect the Vanguard, but she was given a new Quickfang that was even better than the old one once the forges were rebuilt. She still wore her Celestial Nighthawk, just not in the Crucible when it was back up and running.

    Sarah worked to bring supplies to the city to help the restoration effort. It was an excuse to get out of the city, but she could help in her own way. She and Hawthorne remained friends, bringing the city back to life, one day at a time. She was reported escorting people back to the city on multiple occasions. Many families were reunited thanks to the Hunter’s efforts. She also quietly supplied the Farm with some things as well, for some did want to stay there and call it home.

    Gale worked endlessly taking care of injured and rebuilding the hospital. It was worth it in her mind when the walls were finally standing, and the equipment was being made again to use. She would take a break in nursing for a while however, in favour of rebuilding and tying up loose ends and loose threads. The Legion was still out there, and there was still much to be done before she could work both jobs again.

    Stella officially adopted Dani, who was now Danielle Henrick. Inspired by Gale, the little girl would spend her life trying to be a doctor to help people. Annabelle Krane was never found, and was presumed dead much to the sadness of Stella, and many other Guardians who had befriended her and had her help. Word of her songs and her message got to the Vanguard, and Ikora gave her an odd proposition. She asked Stella if she would be the Speaker. It would be the first time ever that the Speaker was a mortal, and a woman. Stella however turned her down, saying that Danielle was her priority now. She did say however, that she would happily sing to the Guardians, and if she was ever needed, she would come to the tower.

    Hawthorne stayed in the city and became part of the Vanguard. She was now in charge of Clans, and she soon made them more fun to be in than ever. She learned all of the secrets the Vanguard had, including that of the Thorn. Back then Hawthorne had only known it to be a male EXO with gold and black plates from the news, but now she knew who it was. After everything though, she decided that he served his sentence, and instead gave Cid her automatic shotgun. He was quite happy with it, as he tested out the void weapon on some poor dummies. It made her feel a little better anyways, and Sarah seemed satisfied with that act.

    Once the walls were rebuilt and people moved back in, there was a huge effort to fix armor, clothing, everything they needed. Cid finally had a proper robe that fit him thanks to Tess, and Gale’s melted armor was replaced with a better put together Lost Pacific Robes. Ash also had her gear replaced, but soon enough would get a set she would be much happier with once the Iron Banner returned. Weapons were also made, and in a matter of a month, most operations were back to normal.

    But there was still much to be done. There was something Alexander had to do. As he stood on the wall he helped to rebuild and looked at the fragmented Traveler, he knew he still needed a loose end tied up. There was someone he had to see, and a place he needed to be.

    “Glimmer for your thoughts?” Alexander turned around to see Cid who walked right up beside him. Through the months, the Warlock had seemed much better than before. Perhaps it was because there was much keeping his hands busy and his mind from wandering. Either way, he was happy his friend seemed to be feeling better.

    “No need.” Ghost translated, “I’m just… thinking. Did I ever tell you I was having weird dreams?”

    “Weird dreams?” Cid asked with a raised brow.

    “What kind of weird dreams?” someone asked. The two of them turned to see Gale, Ash, and Sarah walking over, clearly interested. The men both knew they had been there for a while, and weren’t surprised when Gale piped up.

   “Yeah. I’d… I’d hear this woman’s voice. Says she’s my wife. She was guiding me the whole time back there during the Red War. Kept giving me advice, pointing in the right direction and everything.” Alexander raised a hand to the side of his head as he frowned, “I know her. I know I do, from my last life, and it’s really bugging me that I can’t remember her. I just…”

    “Alex…?” Cid asked, starting to get a bit concerned, “What are you getting at?”

    “I need to go back. I need to go back to the place I was reborn. I need answers… but I don’t want to go alone.” Alexander looked at Cid, who just gave a nod.

    “Just say the word, I’m right beside you.”

    “Same!” Ash piped up, “Whatever you need big guy! We’ll be beside you!”

    “All you had to do was ask. Like we’d say no.” Sarah shrugged.

    “Especially not after all that we’ve done. I don’t think the Vanguard will mind if we slip out.” Gale added with a small giggle.

    “Side note, anyone seen Red lately?” Ash asked.

    They all turned towards the wall and could see him walking with a few of the civilian employees chatting him up. Judging from the body language, they were mistaking him for someone who was adept and were looking for something… more.

    “Let’s… leave him behind this time.” Sarah suggested, “Maybe he might get a girlfriend while we’re gone.”  

    Alexander chuckled a little, “I doubt it.” Ghost translated, “You guys are the best though, you know that?”

    “Hey, what are friends for, right?” Ash asked with a grin.

    They went and grabbed their gear from their temporary rooms. The transmat and vault system was finally working properly and they could now take more with them if they wanted to. They walked out to the launch bay, explaining to Amanda and Cayde what they were doing before jumping into their new ships Amanda had been busy making.

    “Alright Guardians, be careful out there! Don’t die on me big guy, you’ll break my heart!” Amanda told them over the comms.

    “We’ll be careful! See you soon Amanda!” Ghost translated.

    “Eyes up Guardians” Zavala suddenly piped up over the radio, “Whatever you’re doing, I hope for your safety.

    “Relax big blue, they’re just going to check a place out for nostalgia’s sake.” Cayde commented.

    “Clear for launch!” Amanda’s voice hollered. Alexander found a smile coming to his face. Launching from the Hangar bay with a fire team of friends? There was nothing better in his mind. The doors in the rebuilt hanger opened, and the five of them took for the air, racing towards the other side of the planet to find answers.

    This was just the beginning of loose ends to tie up. There were many, many more.


End file.
